The Story Of An Unlucky Girl
by ThePeachyReader
Summary: Hinamori Momo is just your regular third-year high school girl who happens to be very unlucky ever since the start of her high school life. Wishing she could return her everage lucky self before graduation, she decides to do something about it. A not too serious story and slightly out of character characters. Also HitsuHina.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello, it's me! Back from the dead and here to bring you a silly fanfiction that has been completed for a while. My apologies in advance for any grammar or spelling mistakes as English isn't my native language (I tried my best though!).**

 **Obligatory disclaimer: Is a disclaimer really needed though? We're all aware we're not Tite Kubo and don't own Bleach. So it's fine if the later chapters don't have a disclaimer right?**

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Chapter 1

Once upon a time there was a small, nice town. In that small, nice town people lived happily together in their small, cozy houses. All the parents went to work at the same time, greeting their neighbors cheerfully, when they too were on their way to work. The children always met up with their friends so they could go to school together. That was the simple but happy life the townspeople led. They sure called themselves lucky to be able to live such a happy life.

"I'm so unlucky!" An ordinary girl, Hinamori Momo, ran with great speed from room to room in her house. Each one of her alarm clocks were malfunctioning so she didn't wake up on time. Again. And she set twenty of them this time. The other pair of her socks were eaten by the washing machine, because washing machines could totally engage in that kind of activity, so she had to wear mismatched colored socks. Again. Her sailor uniform, which Hinamori was sure she ironed last night was full of creases. Again. And the slice of bread she hastily jammed in the toaster was burnt. Again. With her burnt breakfast she sped to school.

This wasn't the first time she experienced such a hectic morning. Oh no, Hinamori always knew she was unlucky since middle school. But high school was a whole different story, especially since the start of her senior year, she felt her luck drop faster than the speed of sound until it went far past the negative numbers.

She aggressively chomped on the poor toast while sprinting, surprised by the lack of obstacles on her way. No pits to fall in, no flowerpots that would fall down on her out of nowhere, no infinite numbers of bikers blocking her when she needed to cross the street, no... you get the picture. She could wonder how she always made it on time to school, but was afraid that would jinx that last bit of luck so she didn't.

However, Hinamori couldn't celebrate just yet as she still had to pass the biggest hurdle of them all. While all the other obstacles differed from day to day. This one was the same, each and every time. She slowed down just to glare at it properly, for she was in front of her enemy.

The dreadful Corner. It's so dreadful, it's spelled with a capital C. Among their ranks only a select few were able to earn this title. A title that meant you were one of the most dreaded of corners.

She would always crash into someone, someone would crash into her, she would trip over someone who sat there and crash on that person, someone would fall from the sky and crash on her. And no matter who fell first she would always end up on top of them. Most of the time ending up in suggestive poses and disheveled clothes for some reason. It was not all bad though, she met all of her friends with this Corner.

Cautiously and still with the toast in her mouth, Hinamori neared the Corner. She looked up, down, left and right. No one was to be seen... . She paused after each step, but nothing happened. Maybe her luck increased this time somehow, even if it's just a tiny bit. But she made one mistake. One mistake she realized too late as she saw a shadow behind. The one direction she didn't check. The other person bumped into her and as you might have guessed, they fell. Their clothes getting disheveled in the process.

"Get off of me." Ah, if it wasn't her good ol' childhood friend, Hitsugaya Toushiro, who sounded as cold as ever. The childhood friend who was also a genius. The genius who was also popular at school. The school they would be late for if they wasted more time lying around.

She complied and finished her breakfast like the good girl she was. After they both were standing again he stared at her appearance, figuring she was having one of those mornings again. Since it was his turn at the Corner this time he must look messy as well. That was the rule of the Corner after all.

"Sorry about that." Apologizing became such a habit of hers these past years. It was beginning to sound less sincere and more out of obligation.

"It's not your fault." That sentence became such a habit of his these past years, yet always sounded sincere. She just got bad luck. All the time.

What a bummer. Everything went so smooth until the Corner. She fixed her outfit and asked, "Why were you walking behind me by the way? Usually you go to school much earlier than me."

Wait... . Did he want to walk to school with her? Together? Like the good old times?

"You've got it wrong! I just went out later this morning." He turned his head away from her. "B-but not because I wanted to see if you could make it to school safely or anything!"

"Um."

His face turned grim. "Even though you came wrapped up in bandages yesterday after all the birds in the neighborhood started to attack you."

"Um?"

"And the cats chasing the birds. And the dogs chasing the cats. Then the owners who were after their dogs, which were after the cats, which were after the birds, which were after you also joined in." At this point he started to mumble when a dark purple aura surrounded him.

"... ."

"All in a span of 15 minutes. How did you even manage to do that? Is it because you wore that corn shaped hairpin? Is that why the birds wanted to peck on you?" Hitsugaya paused. " ...W-what I want to say is, I'm not worried about you."

"Of course." She had the option to say that she didn't imply any of that or claim that his denial was way too specific, but chose not to. He'd retort with 'shut up!' anyway and blush like the good tsundere- um, boy he was.

So the two childhood friends made it in time for school. They were not in the same class however, he was in class 3-10 and she in 3-5. Oh and as was mentioned before the boy was a genius, he skipped two grades. Class representative too. Plus he's short and pretty. He's like a bishounen or something.

"You're just in time." Ah, if it wasn't her good ol' teacher, Hirako Shinji. The teacher with the asymmetrical straight haircut. The teacher with weird blocky teeth that looked as if drawn with rulers. Weird blocky teeth that arguably added more to his charming self. Anyway, he's pretty popular with the students. "I would commend you if it weren't for the fact you're the class representative. Someone who under normal circumstances should present themselves as a good example for their fellow classmates by not coming almost late to class."

"And I agree, sir! I particularly agree about the 'normal circumstances' part." Does it even need mentioning anymore? Everyone and their mother, grandmother, grand grandmother and so forth knew of Hinamori's bad luck. It had become a normality really. "I'll go to my seat."

Hirako nodded, cleaning his ear with his pinky when she settled on the seat back in the classroom near the window. After waiting a few seconds the bell rang, letting you know that class was starting.

Hinamori, being the class representative and all, said in a clear voice the commands the students were to follow.

"Stand up."

The sound of the moving chairs echoed in the classroom as the unimportant, faceless students stood up.

"Bow."

A moment of silence when the students bowed at the teacher.

"Sit down."

Again the sound of moving chairs. Soon the teacher began to call the students and they responded with 'present' starting with student 1, then student 2, student 3, student 5 was skipping class. Yup, typical day at a typical high school attended by typical students with typical names.

Others would call it boring, not this girl though. Taking notes in classes, listening to the teachers, answering their questions enthusiastically were the moments of the day she looked forward to the most. Why? Because her misfortune was almost nonexistent in class other than the occasional pencil rolling away from her desk. No doubt this was why despite her ditzy exterior, she's the respected ace of the class.

"How come in manga they always have lunch on the rooftop? We're not allowed to come here." Hinamori unwrapped the cloth from her lunchbox. For as long as she can remember, the door to the rooftop was never locked. This being the third year they get to eat lunch here peacefully made her doubt if the janitors even cared about locking this area.

"W-who knows?" Feeling that she asked something she shouldn't have, her friend changed the subject. "Oh hey! You seem a lot less injured today. Only a few scratches. You're making progress, aren't you?"

She and her other friends stopped stuffing their faces with food. Slowly they gazed at her just to see that she indeed was less injured than she well... should be. After being used that she was practically the universe's Butt Monkey, this felt rather unnatural.

Oh right, her friends need introductions too. The guy who called attention to her not-so-injured form was Kira Izuru. He liked to write depressing poetry. He looked perpetually sad with those frowny eyebrows and his bangs covering his left eye. He wass shy around girls too. Then there was Abarai Renji, the energetic, delinquent looking redhead. Some also called him Banchou due to his looks. Surprisingly got beautiful handwriting. Kira and Abarai were both class representatives of class 3-3 and 3-6 respectively.

She met these two at the Corner when they were running to their middle school. Middle school. If she recalled correctly, it was then when things... changed with her.

Her childhood friend glanced at her carefully when he saw her spacing out, using her eyes as a gauge how disturbing her thoughts were. If she lost all the shine in her eyes, it was bad news. Hitsugaya jumped when she unexpectedly rose, "Perhaps the time has finally come at last!"

"Time for what?"

"Why, I am glad you asked!" Out of nowhere she pulled an old notebook behind her titled, The Plus/Minus Balance And Me. "Perhaps my bad luck has reached such a low point it can't possibly can go any lower, a limit so to speak. However, luck is dynamic, it refuses to stay stagnant just because it hit a wall! So I'm asking you, if it can't go down anymore it can only go...?"

Hinamori waited patiently for the boys to answer, wearing a big grin in the meantime. So big it could rival Cheshire's from Alice in Wonderland. It was creepy.

Raising a shaky hand, Kira said, "Um, ...up?"

"Correct! From now on, my bad luck shall be no more. No, it's time for my good luck to- ."

Hinamori wasn't allowed to finish her sentence when a ball hit her head at full force and knocked her unconscious. Her now collapsed body still managed clutch her notebook with a strong grip. So it shouldn't be that bad, right?

Abarai, who remained silent the whole time, carried the girl to the infirmary since he was physically stronger than the short, bishounen and the lanky, shy guy. "How should I put this. Don't you also feel she's... weirder lately?"

"That's not nice, you know." Kira watched the girl giggling in her sleep. Hearing her mumbles about overthrowing a king and reprogramming the rules of the universe. "But yes, I agree."

Hitsugaya pointed at the wall clock. "We should head back to class. Let her rest, the school nurse knows how to take of her. She's a regular patient here after all."

The taller boys nodded and walked away from the infirmary without another word. Hitsugaya sighed deeply before looking at the sleeping girl. In class she was protected from misfortune, rumors spread there was a magical force field made by a ghost to protect her. It got officially added to one of the seven mysteries of the school, courtesy of the school newspaper. Yes, in class she was safe. Outside she was not.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" Sure, she was a handful. She was a handful ever since they met. She was troublesome. She was annoying. Too trusting of people. Too nice. Got worried too easily. Cared too much, forgave too much, was too fragile... . She was a lot ever since they met. Unlucky wasn't one of them.

Then it was wishful thinking? Thinking she recovered from... middle school. He remembered she had to go to the hospital in an emergency, but he was unable to receive more information from anyone he thought had more insight in this 'incident'. After she was released she pretty much became a shut-in, refusing to go to school, even refusing to go outside ever. She eventually gave in after all her friends convinced her to go back to school and returned to her chipper self. Yet she continued refusing to talk about 'it'.

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 **Author's Note: I wonder if someone will read this story at all, with Bleach being done for quite a while now. Regardless, I will post the other chapters. In case someone did read this I want to say thank you :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Wait! You haven't heard about the part where I... . Eh?" Still feeling hazy, Hinamori looked around and concluded this was the infirmary. Huh, Abarai must have carried her here. Honestly, she frequented this place all the time, this was pretty much her second bed. She sat up, and saw something white fell off her head. It was a scrap a paper.

 _Hey, you got knocked out during lunch. We'll tell the teacher you won't be able to return to class. Well, even if we didn't he'd be able to figure it out on his own. Anyway, take your time and rest, okay?_

Ah, what good friends. Apart from school, she secretly considered herself lucky in this aspect too. Very secretly. She didn't want to jinx it.

"You're awake. Do you feel dizzy?" The nurse, Kotetsu Isane, sat on the chair next to the bed. "You've got a nasty bruise on your forehead. I've bandaged it, but please try to be more careful. The scratches from yesterday haven't healed completely too."

Please try to be more careful. How many times did the nurse say that to her? How many times did she give the same answer?

"I'm always careful." It was true, she was a careful girl. Being careful just wasn't enough when you were destined to get hurt. "Don't worry! This pain is nothing. I am fiiine."

Witnessing Hinamori swaying back and forth, Kotetsu grabbed her shoulders to steady her. That was it. This girl, who behaved like a drunk, was hopeless. "Yes, yes, you are obviously... not fine."

"Ah, what period is it?"

Somewhat caught off guard by her patient instant 'sobering' up, Kotetsu said, "Fifth period is about to end soon."

Fifth period? If she was brought her during lunch break, she should have been asleep for fifty minutes approximately. That was a new record! Ordinarily, she'd be out for two hours minimum. Then it dawned on her. "I can make it in time for sixth period?"

"You certainly can. Can't say I'd recommend it though, you're still acting quite... woozy." She still held Hinamori by her shoulders, slowly pushing her back to the mattress. "You stay here and I'll make us some tea, understand?"

Hinamori, severely disappointed at the moment, nodded. The nurse smiled approvingly, the girl may be a bit of a headache sometimes but she was still an obedient one.

"I should write this in my notebook." It was more of a diary than anything. Days that especially stuck out to her were marked with sticky notes. Not that others could read it. Every written page was full of weird scribbles accompanied with hastily drawn sketches to further explain what the weird scribbles described. She also made a comic here and there about a peach that was on a quest to end the evil reign of the plum lord. Why did she bother trying to show this her friends again?

Meanwhile.

"You're also making tea, Kotetsu-san?" Ah, if it wasn't the sickly teacher, Ukitake Juushirou. Despite him frequently passing out, he was very much loved by everyone. Between you and Kotetsu, she thinks her little sister got a crush on him. A heavily obsessive crush. Anyhow, it went without saying that besides Hinamori, he too was a regular patient of hers.

"Yes, for Hinamori and for me." How about black tea? She found green tea to be too bitter. Hmm, there was also a fruit flavored one. Choosing tea was a very difficult task.

"I've heard she's getting better." That was to say, he heard it from his colleague, who heard it from the janitor, who heard it from student 33, who heard it from his homeroom teacher, who heard it from the student who accidently kicked the ball at Hinamori. The culprit was student 5, the one who skipped class in the morning.

"Is that so?" Then did Hinamori really start to be more careful after all the visits to the infirmary? The nurse could barely contain her happiness. Her happiness didn't last for long sadly, she whipped her head to Ukitake when he started a coughing fit. "Frankly, I'm more worried about you than her."

"Ahaha *cough* haha *cough* ...ha...ha.. *cough*" He laughed (?) while hiding his mouth with his hand. "I appreciate your concern, but as you can see I'm *cough* doing just *cough, cough* fine."

"A-ah, please calm down, Ukitake-san! You're obviously not fine!" Wait, where did this déjà vu come from? And that hand which was covering his mouth... was that blood dripping from it?! "You're coming to the infirmary. Now!"

He chuckled softly before he passed out for the seventh time that day. Kotetsu caught him before he hit the ground. She groaned, so much for a relaxed break with a nice cup of tea. Fortunately, she was a strong person, carrying a grown man wasn't that difficult for her.

The teacher woke up after a couple of minutes at his permanent spot in the infirmary. Ooh~ The sudoku from last time was still here and the pen he thought he'd lost too. Maybe now he'll be able to finish it.

"Good afternoon, Ukitake-sensei." The upbeat greeting came from no one else but Hinamori, his infirmary buddy. They were separated by curtain partitions so they couldn't see each other. She guessed he wasn't asleep anymore by the clicking of his pen.

"Good afternoon, Hinamori-san. I've heard you're in high spirits today?"

"Yup! I believe I'm making progress in my research."

"That's good to know." Since they were infirmary buddies they talked a lot to each other about a variety of subjects. Mostly it was her rambling on and on about the contents of her notebook, including the comic. He didn't pay much attention to her when he saw an article in the school paper. "Hmm, the seven mysteries of the school? Doesn't sound very appropriate. 'The seven most popular rumors', that fits better."

"Can I read it?" After confirmation that she could, he passed her the paper between the curtains. She only heard about a ghost trudging through the hallways once, although that was more of a joke than anything. She instantly recognized the first one since it was, well, about her.

1\. There is a magical force field outside every classroom to protect students from harm.

2\. The school building is actually more than 200 years old, built on a special ground.

3\. Following up on number 2, the headmaster is possessed by the a supernatural being who's been here for over 200 years.

4\. There's a hidden shelter beneath the school where an ancient artifact is hidden.

5\. Student 4 does in fact exist, no matter what the teachers tell you.

6\. Despite the lock, the key of the door to the rooftop was never made. It can't be locked by any key, including the master key.

7\. The last one is still a work in progress. If you have a suggestion, please contact us ;) For now we'll say there's a dark secret surrounding the school.

That got anticlimactic fast. The teacher was right. These weren't mysteries at all! Except maybe number seven, but that one was just placeholder and super vague. Hinamori complained about the list to the teacher who quietly listened to her. That was how the majority of their conversations went to be frank.

"Hinamori? And Ukitake too, huh." The patients stopped their chatter to look at the visitor. It was her childhood friend who came to pick her up. He glanced at the nurse. She looked as if her brain melted after listening to the two talk. This made him confirm that everything went normal here. "How are you feeling?"

Hinamori tilted her head with a smile. "Hmm? Oh, I am-"

"I'm asking you just out of curiosity. Not out of concern. I want that to be clear." He looked away from her while folding his arms. Ten years of friendship and he's still on the 'tsun' side.

"Of course." She didn't mind him being that way. In contrary, she found this attitude rather cute. "And I am feeling good, thanks to Kotetsu-sensei."

The nurse merely waved her hand dismissively, muttering words sounding akin to 'yeah yeah whatever do what you want' and the sorts. Sheesh, did she get tired of these patients. Hinamori waved Ukitake and Kotestsu goodbye and left the place with her friend. Hitsugaya saw her skipping as if she was a little girl who was in a very good mood. He sighed with relief, good thing she recovered fast.

He saw a flat, red item fall from her notebook and picked it up. It was an omamori, a good luck charm. Although the color was faded, it was still in good shape.

Hold on, this floral pattern on the silken brocade looked suspiciously familiar. "You kept this old thing?"

Hinamori spun around when he spoke, squinting at the charm. In a panic, she opened her notebook, browsed through pages, and ran to Hitsugaya. She didn't have to run as he was only three steps behind her. She nearly bumped into him if it weren't for him leaning backwards in response. She inspected the amulet. Thank goodness, it didn't get dirty or stepped on.

After he handed it back to her, she gingerly put it back in her notebook and then put the notebook inside her bag. She faced him sheepishly while she scratched her cheek. "Ehehehe... yeah. It's, um, my treasure."

He looked confused. "Treasure? In what way? Its luck wore off years ago. Why don't you replace it with a new one?"

For some reason she sensed unease within her. How odd. "I can't, it has sentimental value."

Still confused, he only nodded to her reply. Abarai was right, she did get weirder. Her actions just now went from gleefully skipping around to frantically searching, all in a short period of time. Was the amulet that significant to her? Didn't she forget the meaning behind this amulet? They were near her house when she stopped walking.

"Thank you… for walking me home." She sounded awfully monotone.

Once in a while, when she was lost in thought, certain memories kept playing back. Just happy memories from her childhood. Strangely enough, it only happened when she was with Hitsugaya and it always happened unexpectedly. Incidentally, those memories were also only about the two of them.

He saw it. She had that far off look in her eyes again and the next moment she was back to earth. "Yes well, see you tomorrow."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows. Something was wrong. 'It has sentimental value'... . The way how the words spilled out of her mouth left her bewildered. What value? She couldn't remember. On one hand, she agreed with him. A new amulet would be way more effective. On the other hand, that uneasy sensation gnawed so hard at her when it fell on the ground. How did she get this amulet in the first place? Where? Why?

She rolled from side to side on her bed. Her memories from before high school were fuzzy. There was this hunch she was a passionate fan of romantic anime and manga. The whole wall had wooden planks installed, functioning as bookshelves chock full of figurines and manga. Then there was this stack of otome games sitting in a corner on her desk near the laptop.

There was this image in her head that popped up from time to time. Mountains of merchandise that covered the entire floor. A lot of them were sold off online for a nice profit. She shivered at the thought of having had such an expensive hobby. She asked her friends how she ever got into it, but they would nervously brush it off.

"Kyaah!" She fell on the floor unceremoniously and continued to roll, pulling the blanket with her. The result ended her up in a burrito-like state. The notebook slipped from her bed during her fall, showing the section where she put the amulet. Now, you might think that she was losing it, but rest assured she knew she wasn't. There was nothing crazy about seeing this as a sign from destiny. A sign that told her it was time for her to change her destiny. But waiting for that to happen won't do, thus she made the resolve to change it herself. Starting with this amulet that is.

Her determination was not to be underestimated for she left extra early the next morning. Hinamori rapidly pressed the doorbell again and again impatiently. She stopped when she heard mumblings coming from of his house. Hitsugaya glared at the smiling girl, "What is it that you want so early in the morning?"

She rummaged in her bag, whipping the amulet in front of him in a flash, nearly punching him in the face. He reflexively dodged her incoming attack. She was way too enthusiastic for him to handle at this time.

"You recognize this, correct?" Her first step into the path destiny surely laid out for her was her childhood friend. If there was someone who knew her more than her, it was him. He should have clear memories of the time when her luck plummeted, whereas hers are all blurry. This lucky charm belonged somewhere in that blur. "I was wondering if you could tell me more about it."

"What?" He looked noticeably puzzled. "Why? You're acting as if you've never seen that thing before. That thing you proclaimed to have sentimental value just yesterday."

Shoot. She did say that, didn't she?

"Exactly!" If Hinamori admitted she did not in fact know why she treasured the amulet, he will undoubtedly play it off as something unimportant. "That's why your memories can add more to its value!"

Hitsugaya merely stared at the orange flower that seemed to grow out of her head. A flowerpot hit her today, huh. The way she tried to persuade him into telling her more about it screamed that she didn't remember. Hmm, play it off or humor her? Ah well, it shouldn't trigger any bad memories. Let's humor her.

"Fine." He began to walk ahead with her closely following behind him. "In summary, it was the beginning of January, just a few months before you started middle school. We went to the local shrine together and I bought you that amulet. It was supposed to help you with... passing your exams and school in general."

Ah, now that he mentioned it, that did ring a bell. The blur started to disappear until it became clear fragments of memories from that day. How strange, somewhere within those fragments Hinamori saw something he didn't mention. Actually, with the way he paused at the end she assumed he deliberately left some parts in the dark. If he won't bring it up, she certainly will. For now she will ask him about 'that'. "You bought one for yourself too, right? Was it also for school?"

Hitsugaya froze on the spot when she asked that. Of all the things she could recall from the past she chose to recall that. He shook his head and started to walk again in a quicker pace. "No, it was a different one. Look, it doesn't have anything to do with yours anyway so it's pointless to talk about it."

Silly boy, did he forget she was incredibly stubborn at times? Especially since he avoided the topic, she felt as if it was her duty to uncover the secret that was his amulet. Although, knowing him, it must be something like 'good health'. He probably returned it the next year to the shrine so they could properly dispose of it.

After bumping into a random woman at the Corner it struck her. This was the first time in years the two of them walked the whole way to school together. It couldn't be helped, she didn't want to burden him too with all the obstacles she had to go through every day. He didn't seem to mind going alone either. Hitsugaya turned back, remembering he forgot to take his lunchbox. He was a fast person though, so she wasn't worried about him getting late for class.

Hinamori sighed inaudibly. For now her life was fine the way it was considering her friends and her teachers were always understanding of her situation. University on the other hand? The prestigious, highly acclaimed university she wished to go to? They most likely won't deal with it the same way, you could count on that.

"I know you were kinda late yesterday, but don't you think you came too early today?" Hirako entered the classroom where only the two of them were present. The other students should come in about twenty minutes. "That said, you never did things with moderation. Always overdoing it."

Ugh, she couldn't refute that. It's true. She planned to arrive only ten minutes earlier than yesterday, but the excitement of interrogating Hitsugaya got to her. Hinamori sulked, it didn't turn out to be a real interrogation in the end. Perhaps after school she'll try again.

"Wanna tell me what's on your mind?" That question brought her out of her disappointment and instead brought her focus to the teacher. His gaze wandered to the window, looking as uninterested as ever. The only teacher who was seriously willing to hear her out was him. Compared to him, Ukitake and the others treated her as if she was a child with a fantastic imagination.

"I want to know where it went wrong with me... ." That sounded a lot more depressing when it came out of her mouth. Those raised eyebrows showed her he got the wrong idea too. "I mean I want to get to know myself better or at least who I used to be. I tried to ask, but... ."

"They change the subject, brush it off, tell you not to fret and such. At first you thought it truly wasn't a big deal, but now you're fed up with this unlucky lifestyle so you want to do something about it, yes?" The solemn nod confirmed he was on the right track. Ever the perceptive man. "However, you can't figure out what changed your life and that's why you're moping."

"I am not moping." Yup, not at all except, she was totally moping. "And I did figure something out. Almost figured it out. Am in progress of figuring it out."

Hirako faced Hinamori expectantly as if hinting her to tell him what it was. So she did, she opened her notebook and took the amulet out of it. He listened to her explanation with a thoughtful expression. When she finished there was a short silence, the wait of how he would react.

He walked towards the teacher's desk and leaned against it. "For now you should give up trying to pry information out of him. Knowing that boy, he won't budge no matter what. Checking your room for clues is your best guess, assuming it remained the same before you went to high school. For example, is there a diary? A photo? Something that feels out of place?"

Oh, he was helpful... . He was giving her advice. She was taken aback for a second seeing this was the most support someone had ever given Hinamori regarding her remembering the past. Ah, um right, something out of place. "I have a great collection of everything related to romantic manga and anime. I don't know when I bought them though or why, seeing that I'm not passionate about that kind of thing. Should... should I investigate that?"

Hirako smirked with those blocky teeth of his which made her grin back. Soon the other students entered the classroom followed by the ringing of the school bell. Hinamori felt this sensation of mirth the whole day. The knowledge of having someone who didn't baby her, thinking she couldn't handle the truth. No, he was different and that made her joyful.

Her friends, though not the skeptical Hitsugaya, thought that she was fantasizing the whole day, stuck in her own world. You know, Hinamori just being Hinamori. A hand landed on her shoulder as she was about to walk home. It was her best friend pointing at the gray sky.

"It's raining. Did you bring your umbrella with you?" Before she could reply Hitsugaya already opened his own above her. How gentlemanly of him.

"I did bring one!" Honestly, Hinamori wasn't the ditz as much as he believed her to be. However. "But it broke when I walked to your house this morning... and it can't open anymore."

"You're welcome." If it weren't for him mastering the art of the poker face he'd look smug for sure. So very smug indeed.

"Thank you." It was either embarrassment or her pride getting hurt. Perhaps both. Nonetheless, she still appreciated the gesture of him sharing his umbrella. "But won't your admirers get the wrong idea if they saw us like this?"

Hearing that made him trip and that caused her to giggle. She also liked teasing him about his position at school. The prettiest, smartest, and mature boy. Girls would fawn at just the mere sight of Hitsugaya. Magically enough, flower petals and glittering, diamond-shaped bubbles appeared too when that happened along with pastel colored backgrounds. Now that was a mystery worth submitting to the school paper!

As if it was a mask, the poker face fell off his face with an indignant look replacing it. And those rosy cheeks? Was he blushing? Was he abashed? Was she right on the mark? Where was his comeback? Was this a sensitive subject? Did she go too far?

"Hey now, it was a joke." Better apologize if the silent treatment kept continuing. "No one would ever get that idea. They all know we're more like siblings."

"Right... ." His impassive expression returned as he dryly replied back. The silent treatment did not stop, so Hinamori took that as a sign that he was still annoyed. It was perhaps for the best if she gave him some private time.

"I forgot! I have to go home early to do a very urgent task." It wasn't a complete lie, she did want to go home fast to investigate. She stepped out the protection the umbrella provided. Hinamori waved at him and then sprinted off.

It was raining fairly hard, but getting wet from the rain never made her catch a cold before. With this in mind, she should be fine. She should be fine, but it looked like it was pouring even harder where she walked than the other places. After several accidental stumbles over peddles and puddles later, she fished her keys out her coat which then of course first slipped from her fingers, she successfully entered her house without too much trouble.

One would ask where her parents were. Some say they were killed in a car crash. Others would say that they were working overseas. Then there was this thing where she lived alone in a relative's house. In the end none of it mattered as she managed well on her own. But enough of that. She brushed her wet hair from her face while dropping her bag.

Investigation. Start! Time to go through her collection, hopefully she didn't sell anything crucial. She did read the books out of curiosity from time to time, but no memories triggered from those. Since that's the case, she won't bother with those and marathon the others. After that she will play the games and inspect the merchandise. Will the weekend be enough to do all of this? No wait, schoolwork took priority. Gah, how frustrating.

Unlike Hinamori, Hitsugaya did have an adult watching over him. His grandmother greeted him which he returned and then he immediately went to his room. The boy closed the door, pondering what just happened. When the girl ran away he could only stand there dumbfounded. What was that all about?

Their houses were right next to each other. In fact, his balcony was only a little bit away from hers. He went to the balcony to see if Hinamori was in her room. N-not that he wanted to check up on her or anything, seeing if she was all right! It was just to make sure she wasn't making a huge ruckus with that 'urgent task' of hers, because that would bother her neighbors. Like him.

The sky cleared up. Beams of sunlight broke through the clouds and into her room, making it easier to peek inside. A small stack of books lay on the floor. Next to the stack lay a drenched, unconscious girl. Then there was her bag with her homework- And what!?

* * *

 _Stalls. Chatter. Shrine. Sunset. Candy apples. Cold air. Glee._

 _"You bought one for me?"_

 _Boy. White hair. Turqoise eyes. Two red amulets. Best friend. School. Luck._

 _"Thanks! Ah, but what about yours?"_

 _Dismissal. Running. Alone. Confusion. Amulet. Luck. School?_

* * *

For school? He said that to her, but it contradicted with what she remembered. She never received an amulet for school from him. At first she saw the floral patterns, the back of the amulet. When she flipped it to the front, the characters read... . It read... . Huh?

"Hey! Wake up!"

Eh? Hitsugaya? Was she dreaming? When did she fall asleep?

"Getting a cold from the rain. Seriously?"

A cold. Well that explained why her body felt so chilly. Hmm actually, in those stories she read, the main characters also got sick from the rain. That or overworking themselves. Him shaking her didn't exactly help relieving the growing headache. Tired brown eyes fluttered open and her hand landed on his to stop him from shaking her.

The girl sat up, groggily blinking at him. "How did you get inside my house?"

He was not going to tell her he jumped from his balcony to hers, therefore kind of breaking in. "Never mind that. Can you get up?"

"I think so." She said that, but instead of demonstrating that she could, she crawled to her bag. There she took the amulet with the floral pattern facing her and flipped it to the front to read the characters. "It's blank? No, another piece of red cloth is stuck on top of it."

Should she rip it off? Why was it there in the first place? The amulet fell on the ground as she was about to pass out.

Then a cold hand gently touched her forehead, calming her down. It felt really... nice.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **leafpool5: Thank you for your review! I'm glad Hinamori doesn't seem to be that much out of character, hopefully that also goes for the other chapters (I did play around with her personality here and there, although that applies to every character in this story). And umm... I'm not a 'sir', but thank you for commending me XD**

 **gamma2015: Yup, I'm back for now. Thank you for reading the others stories too, hopefully you'll also like this one! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

This certainly was a thing. A thing where a boy was alone with a girl in a house without any supervision. Said girl was currently drenched in rainwater and sweat, breathing heavily and shivering. Hitsugaya took his hand from her way too warm forehead. This was not a good thing.

Him changing her clothes to dry ones didn't sit well with him, not at all. Him leaving her in this state didn't sit well either, but who did he know that could help him? His grandmother! He took out his phone from his pocket and called for the elderly woman. There was this moment of her questioning him how he got there, but his grandmother quickly understood what was going on. By the time she arrived she said she'd take care of Hinamori.

The woman opened the door and found Hitsugaya waiting on her. "You can come in now, but try to be quiet because she's sleeping."

He shook his head. It was better to let her sleep in peace than chance waking her up. "What should we do? We can't leave her alone while she's sick."

"I can stay here until she gets better. It's not a bad cold so she should recover soon enough." That could work. Hitsugaya was plenty independent, staying home alone should be no problem. No problems at all. If he wasn't such a worrywart. "Actually, why don't we both stay here? It's much more convenient this way."

That didn't seem like a bad idea, however something did bug him. "But-"

"Considering you trespassed here anyway, you don't get to complain about getting her permission now." He shut up since he couldn't retort that. "Besides, she'll understand."

A simple nod. That was all he could give. Sure, Hinamori would understand but he could not. Was it because of her cold she acted so strange? No, she was acting strange all the time. This was fine at the start, her going on weird yet harmless antics never resulted in this. He believed the craziness was mostly innocent. Now she left him no choice, he needed to keep a closer eye on her. He needed to know what she was thinking. What made her behave like this.

It was funny. When it came down to it, the two childhood friends were asking the same questions. Searching for the same answers. Too bad their methods differed and Hinamori was more active in her pursuit for the truth too. And Hitsugaya didn't seem too keen on telling her what she wanted to know.

With her face contorted in a frown, Hinamori forced herself to sit up. Feeling all woozy, she recalled she was preparing light novels to read in advance. She zipped her bag open and pulled out her homework. Then blackness. She fainted? Then woke up and met with turquoise eyes. Ah yeah, he broke in. Must be the balconies. They used to chat there till late into the night when they were just kids.

It was nice reminiscing the time when they were in grade school, a time she did have memories of. So nice in fact, she was willing to excuse his heinous crime of entering a girl's room uninvited. Just joking, she trusted he did that with a perfectly rational reason. Speaking of him, where was he? And why was she wearing her pajamas?

With movements similar as a spy Hinamori sneaked out of her room so soundlessly, the perpetrator had no idea she escaped the fluffy blanket prison. With her back against the wall and with the door to the living room slightly ajar, she took a peep inside.

"What are you doing, dear?"

Confounded! Here she believed that she had a hidden spy talent. To be exposed so quickly was truly disappointing. At least it wasn't all for naught. It turned out that there was no criminal, but a loving elderly lady.

"Nothing, Grandma..." That explained her change of clothes, Hitsugaya's grandmother must have done that. By the way, it was normal for her to call his grandmother Grandma too. They had a very close bond after all. "Where is Hitsugaya-kun?"

She explained the family was planning to stay here for the night or until Hinamori was healthy again. The boy was bringing some stuff from his house to hers such as books. The girl gazed downwards as she agreed to that, inwardly feeling miffed for causing them trouble. Grandma wouldn't have any more of her exposing herself to the cold and shooed her back to her bed. So here she was again in fluffy blanket prison and with her laptop to play some games. Might as well kill her boredom.

Hours passed when Hinamori turned her laptop off and put it next to her as she lay down again. She muttered to herself while stonily watching the ceiling. "Sensei, you gave me advice and yet... ."

It bugged her. The sensation of having forgotten something important bugged her. The lack of progress bugged her. The silliness of the games she played bugged her. When she took a break from gaming Hitsugaya entered her room to serve her some tea while calling her an idiot for abandoning the shelter of his umbrella, that really bugged her. He was right. Him being right bugged her. Her being an idiot bugged her.

"Sensei?" Look at him, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded. If he stood there the whole time he might as well announce himself instead of watching her click on text boxes.

"Hitsugaya-kun, I'm sorry." Nonetheless, his intentions were pure. But dang it, the reason why she ran away was because she didn't want to bother him. Needless to say, she did not succeed and bothered both him and his grandmother.

"It's not your fault." It fascinated her how sincere that sounded despite him calling her an idiot moments before. Oh well, that was just the kind of guy he was. "That advice you were talking about. Want to elaborate?"

"I, um, confided Hirako-sensei with my troubles." He was fully capable of filling in the rest himself. She saw him scowling for a split second and switch back to his poker face. To top it off, he was glancing sideways and that told her he was not pleased. "I know, I shouldn't involve him. But he was asking me so... ."

He faced her as he sighed. "In that case you could have gone to me first, you know. Don't burden others next time."

A blank stare was directed at him. Should Hinamori tell him that she did go to him first, but that it wasn't that helpful? Her teacher said so himself, Hitsugaya was not going to budge. Hinamori knew how he felt or rather she felt the same. They were frustrated but remained patient with each other. She was also aware that this wasn't going anywhere. After a period of silence she spoke up again. "Do you believe the good luck charms they sell at shrines work?"

The mood felt uncomfortable so her changing the topic might not be such a bad thing. "Not necessarily, but it's a nice thought."

She fumbled with her blanket while sounding as casual as possible. "Have you ever bought the wrong charm? Maybe misread the characters, impulsively bought it for its prettiness, settled for one since you couldn't find what you sought for or just hastily grabbed one because whatever?"

Uh-huh, not suspicious at all. Her casual act was top-notch. Yep. "I always make sure to get the one I want, so no. You've been rather interested in those amulets as of late. Why exactly?"

He was unto her! Fast, think of an excuse! "You see! I was thinking of buying a lot of them, but not only for their usage. Some of them look really cute, but I wonder if it would be bad if I got them for that reason solely. That why I wanted your opinion on it!"

Her ability to make excuses on the fly was top-notch too. To be fair, it was not that farfetched, she could use a bit of luck in her life. Giving her the benefit of doubt should be fine. "Very well, my opinion is that you should get one for luck in general. I'm gonna go tell Grandma you're doing well. Is that all right?"

"Yeah."

With that Hitsugaya turned around to leave. Attempted to leave to be more accurate. For he nearly tripped when she asked him this. "Hey, did I once have a crush on someone?"

"H-how... . How should I know?!" Viewing his back tense up made her wonder how his face looked like. Alas, he was gone with the wind in a second.

A flight of stairs. That how she perceived her journey to a normal life. Her first step was her childhood friend. That step was sprinkled with spikes to prevent her from ascending, so she will skip him fo now. The next step was her other friends. The short boy may not budge, but the other two could be persuaded. Logically speaking, they were the best sources of information she had since they were in the same class through all of middle school. For now, she will stay on the ground. Sleep her fatigue away and then jump straight to the second step.

Time was spent doing homework, playing more games, reading books, watching series, trying to help with chores, being hushed and pushed back to her room and reading some more books. Hinamori finished all the games in one setting. It was for the sake of making sure Hirako's advice wasn't wasted on her. Even though the girl stated she was healthy again the next day, the Hitsugaya's cared for her the whole weekend long. Hitsugaya checked up on her after every few hours to see how she was doing. He told her not to play those games all day and go to sleep early. She replied with a yawn, and wondered if she wasted her time before falling asleep.

* * *

 _''Why are you here?'', Hitsugaya asked after spitting the watermelons seeds into the garden._

 _Hinamori, who was sipping on her pack of juice, shot him a question back, ''What do you mean? We visit each other all the time.''_

 _''I mean, Tatsukiji and Ayumi asked you to hang out with them. Why did you choose to see me and Grandma instead?''_

 _''Because I would regret it if I didn't.'' She poked at his cheek cheerfully. ''I like being here.''_

 _He scowled. ''But all we ever do is talk and eat. Isn't it more fun with those two?''_

 _''That's exactly what I'm talking about. These moments, being with you, are the highlight of my day. If I went with them instead… .'' She paused for a moment to imagine how that would have played out. It would be fun but not as much as being with him. ''Yep, I would definitely regret it.''_

 _He only huffed and turned his head way from her. ''Then, I'll leave it at that.''_

* * *

The next day, Hitsugaya walked with her to school, ignoring her fear of involving him with her accidents. The amount of bad things happening to her were significantly lower than usual the past few days. Maybe there was some truth about her ramblings about her bad luck reaching a limit and her good luck going up again. Anyway, he wasn't afraid of getting injuries when with her. Even if he got dragged in her misfortune, it wouldn't be worse than hers. It never was.

Female students glared at her with envy just as she predicted. The average-looking girl gets escorted by the pretty boy, angry fangirls glowering at her and drama ensues. Hinamori brushed the excessive amounts of glitter off her clothes to no avail. It wasn't just the glitter. Those shiny bubbles and sparkles were unmissable.

Eh, why did this setting feel so familiar? The glitter melted away like snow before the sun when she was inside the building. She took a small glimpse at Hitsugaya. The impassiveness was still there, but so were the pink cheeks. Also, he was still dazzling brightly. Was that the reason why he left for school early every day? So that she wouldn't see him like this? She couldn't fault him, the sight didn't exactly add to his manliness. It did compliment his boyish face however.

"Stop staring at me."

Unbeknownst to Hinamori, that small glimpse evolved into awestruck gawking. She whipped her head away from him, realizing that she acted like those background characters when in the vicinity of an incredibly beautiful person. It certainly was an experience. If this was what overcame people when he goes to school… she rather be later to class than turn into a mindless Hitsugaya devotee each morning.

"I'm sorry. It sort of... happened." Ugh. He was nice enough to walk her to school and she returned the gesture with rude staring. She then wondered why she didn't notice this occuring those other days. Maybe it was because they only met at the Corner the first time and then that other time he went back home to get his lunchbox. Perhaps the requirement was that they walked all the way together. How strange.

He shook his head as the light faded away from him. "It's not your fault. It has that effect on everyone."

Hey, it honestly wasn't her fault this time! Her self-worth could get used to that. It's nice to not feel like trash once in a while. And man, him and his grandmother taking care of her even though they knew she was fine the whole weekend made her feel worse than trash. Why did she have to burden every single person who was close to her? It wasn't just for the sake of her life after high school anymore. It was also for the sake of not causing any trouble to her dear ones, that she had to get rid of her bad luck as soon as possible. She hoped they could forgive her for troubling them more until then.

Murmurs of gossip spread by the lockers. Everyone acknowledged her as the childhood friend. That it was unavoidable that he associated himself with her. That they were neighbors so crossing paths with each other wasn't impossible. But this? Yesterday, they shared an umbrella. One person saw them leaving from her house together, implying the small possibility he stayed the night there. Now they walked to school side by side. They did not acknowledge the prospect of them being 'that' close.

Sensing the hostility from her surroundings, Hinamori hastily changed her footwear to the indoor shoes. From the corner of her eyes she spotted her homeroom teacher on his way to class. Perfect, she shall use this opportunity to flee away from the animosity.

"Hirako-sensei!" The sudden shout shocked her friend. Fun fact, their shoe compartment were right next to each other. "I need to talk to him. Talk to you later, Hitsugaya-kun!"

And with that she ran away.

Hirako turned his head to Hinamori lazily, carrying a cup of coffee in his hand as he did. Behind her stood Hitsugaya, giving him an unpleasant look. And behind him stood an army of girls giving the girl a similar look. Youngsters are so energetic these days. After a sip from his drink he looked at his silver wristwatch. "You did it. You arrived at the time students normally do."

That sounded as if she normally came at an unusual time, which was true. It was insult and praise simultaneously. Oh, how conflicted these feelings were! Not enough for her to care for though. Escaping the hate took priority. "Never mind that! Hirako-sensei, we should hurry."

Hitsugaya watched her push the teacher towards the stairs. It was obvious to him she felt discomfort, having people glare holes at her. It was obvious but still, he wished she wouldn't run away like that. Her attempt to run away from them felt as if she wanted to run from him too. It wasn't that part what annoyed him. It was that she ran from him to her teacher. Feeling this annoyed was stupid. The teacher just coincidently walked by when she searched for a way to escape. That was all it was.

''Excuse me, would you like to give an interview? It's about the school's 150th anniversary.''

Hitsugaya declined without sparing the other student a glance. With a sigh, he went to his class. The day was just starting, but it sure didn't take long to get him in a bad mood.

"So how did it go?" Hirako gulped the last bit of his coffee. Sadly the tea box was empty since yesterday. Someone had to run for errand boy and buy tea. Anyone but him.

She looked away from him with her eyes downcast. "Not too good, I think. I didn't find anything useful."

"Hmm. Well, don't be discouraged." This prompted her to give him a curious gaze. "You said so yourself, didn't you? How it's your destiny to be more fortunate. If that's true, you'll eventually find it."

She faced forward again and nodded. Eventually finding it won't do though, she wants to actively search for it. That was part of her resolve. Kira waited for her after class ended. Someone from the school paper club approached him to write a poem for the school's 150th anniversary. They asked him to provide some drawings with the poem if possible. If there was someone he could count on with nice drawings it was her. And there she was, mumbling to herself as she fiddled with the straps of her bag. The mumbling stopped when Hinamori saw him standing in front of her. Just the guy she needed! Or well, one of the guys.

"Um, shall we go to the library?" Kira explained the situation and she agreed. It was the least she could do for him. Yup, no ulterior motives at work here. It wasn't as if only a handful of students go the library at this hour making it an excellent opportunity to interrogate him without any interruptions.

"That sounds like a great idea." Nope. Nothing suspicious about it. "But what about Abarai-kun? He took calligraphy classes. I bet he could use his skills to make the writing look more beautiful."

"About that... . I'll tell you on the way."

Apparently the girl wasn't the only one acting strange. Abarai, too, got more distracted. Distracted with studying that is. A surge of motivation hit him and he became overloaded with schoolwork. Knowing him, he'll be fine.

"What do you think of them? The poems I mean." They settled by a table in a corner far from the reception desk. Kira show Hinamori a few examples he planned submitting to the school paper club.

"They're really good. This one can turn even the most apathetic into melancholy after the first line." He blushed after hearing Hinamori compliment him. They decided that just a little alteration was needed and discussed about the drawings. She started to sketch, wondering how to ask him in a roundabout way about their middle school days. If she did it directly he would avoid answering it. Reminiscing the early days of their friendship perhaps?

However foggy the past may be, there were things Hinamori did remember clearly. Or thought she remembered. "You always had a way with words. You won 'The best story written by the first year students' award, didn't you? The jury said the ending made them feel empty and question their existence."

A flash of surprise and then a soft smile. He thought she forgot. "It wasn't that great, honestly. Looking back at it now, I'm a bit embarrassed how cliché some parts were. It's funny, you drew some pictures to go with it then too."

She did? That did sound similar to what they were doing now. The difference being... . "That's not all, the winning piece got written by a member of the calligraphy club. Abarai Renji."

"It's too bad he couldn't make it today.", Kira said as he watched her sketches. It was rough, but charming nonetheless. "I wonder if he's pushing himself harder because of them."

Things got a bit more interesting. Not the kind of interesting she wanted but she couldn't complain. Anything to clear the fog. "Them?"

"You know, the Kuchiki."

Kuchiki. Ah, the affluent family Kuchiki! That's right, Abarai's best friend was the sister of the head of the family. The three of them - Kira, Abarai and Hinamori - were mostly together, but Abarai made sure to talk to her whenever he could. Judging from the way Kira said it, she knew there was more than one Kuchiki that occupied his mind. Time to put her roundabout inquiring skills to the test.

"I can see why he wants to impress her but what about the other person?" Nailed it.

"Well, Abarai admires him for one. He wishes to surpass him too. Not sure what surpassing the head of a family entails, but he sure is ambitious."

Admiration. Where one strongly looks up to someone else. Unease grew inside Hinamori. Did she admire someone too at some point? All right, she can do this. Her roundabout skills had yet to fail her. Be nonchalant about it. "If admiring him causes him work harder, what would happen to me if I felt that way towards someone?"

"Ah! Um! I wonder!" Kira stood up so abruptly, the pencils rolled off the table. He tapped on a sketch at a few random spots. "S-so I think marigolds would work well here and here and here. I'll search for a book about flowers you can use for reference."

That reaction told her a lot. If he was this evasive, it probably left a negative impact. Who was it she admired? Asking him more would be fruitless. She doodled some peaches while she waited on his book when she heard a creaky noise.

"Watch out!"

"Huh?" Kira was on his haunches, unaware of the unstable upper shelves. The small bump his shoulder gave to the bookshelf was all it needed for it to collapse. The next moment went too quick for him to fully register what was going on. The thump of a chair hitting the ground. The rushing steps after and... a girl hovering over him. She protected him from the falling books. They kept falling until there was nothing left on the broken shelves. Most of them landed right on her head, but it's not as if that wasn't a regular occurrence so she was used to the pain.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?", she asked while shaking a book off her head. Just like this morning she had a feeling of déjà vu for Hinamori had seen this scene before. She couldn't quite place it however. Most likely because her head wasn't working properly at the moment. Pain she did not feel. Dizziness, on the other hand, still got to her.

Kira shook his head with an apologetic face. "That's what I should be asking you! I'm sorry, Hinamori-kun. If only I noticed the bookshelves earlier... ."

He sat her back down on the chair. Soon a member of the library staff hurried to them and almost fainted when he saw the books scattered across the floor. Kira apologized multiple times before taking her to the infirmary in a hurry. She was told she could only stay for a little bit because the nurse had to go home earlier. Kotetsu left the room to get some forms leaving Hinamori alone. Well, except she met her infirmary buddy who was reading the school papers and sat on the stool next to the bed he rested in.

"Hinamori-san? I was almost sure you wouldn't be here today.", Ukitake said in a friendly yet tired tone. "I guess it's still too early for either of our situations to improve, huh?"

Poor teacher. Unlike her misfortune, his bad health has been with him since he was a young child. She wanted to shift the mood by being more positive. "It's not that bad. I don't dislike coming here. Kotetsu-sensei is nice and I have you to talk to. Ah, but if you find me annoying you can tell me to stop yapping."

He chuckled lightly. "I don't consider it yapping since I find it fairly entertaining. Hmm, you're right. It really is not that bad. So, what made you come here this time?"

During her explanation he listened more carefully to her than he does usually. From the poem to her sketches and the bookshelves. A deep frown formed on his face when Hinamori told him about her friend nearly being a victim of the dangerous books. He sat up with a sigh.

"I think you're right, Hinamori-san." A confused gaze told him more elaboration was needed. His hand ruffled her hair softly and he gave her the paper he read. "Things will change for us. Whether it's for the better or worse remains to be seen, but... . Let's both do our best, okay?"

"Ukitake-sensei?" She only stared at him when he smiled and left her without another word.

For us? As in the both of them or were there more people involved? The change he spoke of had to be about her misfortune. But it never affected other people by a great extent or so she believed. That accident at the library. It couldn't be because of her. Kira couldn't have been put in such a position where he could get injured because of her. It didn't work that way.

Unless.

It decided to spread to others when it hit a wall with her? No, that was ridiculous. Misfortune wasn't some sentient being that moved from people to people at will. Then again, Ukitake said the change could be for the better or worse. What did he mean by worse exactly? It was baseless, if you didn't count the scribbles in her notebook as legitimate research that is, but she trusted that things could only get up. Otherwise... otherwise, what was the point of having hope if it wasn't so.

She stared at the school paper blankly, her headache from the books replaced by a headache from reading too much into his words. Then her thoughts drifted to what she learnt this day. A bit about of Kira and Abarai and their artistic side. There was this assumption she admired someone too, but it wasn't a topic she could just throw into a conversation. Small steps, but steps all the same! Good thing she was an optimist or she would have given up a long time ago.

"Hey." Hitsugaya stood next to her. How did he do that without making any noise? Maybe his spy potential was greater than hers. Why must he be better than her in everything? "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking." She put the school paper in her bag. Something to read when she got nothing to do. She was done with light novels for now. "You're here to walk me home?"

"What?" No need to be that astonished. She could tell from the start. "I-I only came here because I wanted to speak with the nurse, but since she's not here I might as well walk with you."

"I know." She replied to him absent-mindedly, there were more important matters than his tsundere personality. Should she ask Kira more or should she try Abarai? The latter was the less tight-lipped one of the two. Getting to speak with him might be difficult seeing how he was more focused on his studies. A cough broke Hinamori out of her thoughts. Right, Hitsugaya was waiting on her. She walked to him and so they went on their way home. It was getting darker and colder outside. She sneezed, got to dress more warmly from now on. A hand held her by her wrist to stop her from taking another step. Soon she felt something warm and soft snugly wrapped around her neck.

"Huh?" She looked at the knitted scarf, then at the boy. "Thanks, but what about you? I don't want you catch a cold because of me."

He almost scoffed at her. "I'm the last person to catch a cold. You can return it whenever you want."

Wasn't that nice of him? If only he was more honest about his feelings. "I'll give it back tomorrow."

"Whatever. See you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, see you." A boy giving the girl a piece of clothing so she won't get cold. Most of the times a jacket, sweater or some other kind of upper garment. Another scene she was sure she has seen happening many times. It probably wasn't important.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **gamma2015: Hehehe, I was kind of aiming for that slice of life feeling. I'm relieved it reads like that too :)**

 **Animorphia: I'm glad you like it so far! I was worried if Hinamori went too out of character and there are people who understandably don't like that. I'll post the other chapters as fast as possible :)**

 **leafpool5: I figured that Hinamori and Ukitake would have to be buddies since they go the infirmary all the time XD**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

No more homework. No more dishes to wash. Just her and her hobby: drawing. Hinamori used the internet to search for images of marigolds. Next to her pencil case lied the school paper. It was way past her bedtime, but she didn't care. Her hand started to cramp after practicing drawing the flower over and over again until she was satisfied. Darn it, her lines started to get sloppy. She stretched her arms upwards, yawning loudly as she did. When she let her arms fall down she carelessly shoved the pencil case and school papers from the desk by accident.

Quickly, she put the contents of her pencil case back where it belonged. She proceeded to pick the school papers up, her eyes feeling tired. The papers landed on a page about the anniversary with a picture about the first class that graduated from the school. She squinted her eyes when she saw a boy whose face she recognized. Huh, the resemblance with Ukitake was uncanny. A family member? Their hair color couldn't be any more different however. The boy in this picture had black hair. Not white.

The sound of her phone vibrating got her attention. Hinamori put the papers back on her desk and unlocked the screen of her phone. The message made her rub her eyes in case she misread. Hitsugaya wanted to talk to her by the balcony, it felt so long ago the last time they did that. Going of the fact the lights were still on in her room, though set on one of the lowest brightness, she knew he knew she was still awake. She threw a fleece blanket over her shoulders before trudging to the balcony. What could be that urgent he couldn't wait telling her the next day?

Ugh, she didn't like the low temperature outside. Begrudgingly, she opened the door to the balcony; the cold wind blew right in her face and messed her hair up, much to her displeasure. There he stood, leaning casually against the railings. The moon shined on him in such a manner that made him even prettier which was an impressive feat. It was amazing how the moonlight made him stunning to look at, but not her. Her dark, messy hair contrasted her pale skin so eerily she was confident she looked like a ghost.

"Can't sleep?" He stared at her with his poker face. A T-shirt and some knee-length trousers, that was all he was wearing. How was he not trembling? He could roll around the snow for hours with that outfit and still be fine. Forget his looks, she was fascinated by his resistance for cold weather.

"I wanted to draw some flowers." A thoughtful expression was directed at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Nothing at all. He didn't want to see if she was all right or anything! It wasn't as if he questioned what she was doing so late at this hour. Wondering if she was still staring into space, lifeless like a doll. He certainly didn't feel that he needed to see her right now to get rid of the anxiety. Nonexistent anxiety that was washed away when she told him she was only practicing her hobby.

"I see. It's late so we should go inside. Goodnight."

"Hinamori." He watched her turn around to look at him again. "I understand how you feel, but don't overdo it."

Kira probably told him what transpired at the library. How should she react to this? He meant well, but despite what he said he didn't understand. Reassuring him would be the best choice. "I won't. Don't worry so much."

"I'm not worried! Anyway, try not to do anything reckless."

She smiled. "Goodnight, Hitsugaya-kun."

The conversation died when she left without another word. Whether she'll overdo it or not, she'll never admit it if she did. That and not answering him when he said she shouldn't be reckless. How sly... . When he went to her class to walk her home he met with Kira. He told him what happened that afternoon, including the talk he had with Hinamori. Specifically the last part of their talk, she tried to be roundabout it but Kira knew what was up. Hitsugaya felt bitter, she was still involving others with her problems even when he specifically told her not to. Moreover, he told her to come to him first. Did she not trust him enough? What was going on inside that head of hers? Stupid. Feeling this bitter was stupid, but he couldn't help it.

* * *

 _''Hey, that's dangerous!'' Hinamori pointed at Hitsugaya who sat on the edge of the balcony. ''Hey, do you hear me?!''_

 _''Loud and clear.'' His answer was of indifference which made her puff her cheeks. ''It's not even that high up. And unlike you, I'm not so clumsy to lose my balance and fall down.''_

 _''That's not very nice.'' Her upset face slowly turned into a grin. ''I was going to share this huge watermelon with you, but I guess not anymore.''_

 _He sat there, frozen. After his fast recovery he said, ''Whatever, I can eat a watermelon whenever I want.''_

 _His grandmother did start growing watermelons in their back garden. ''True, I'll keep the amanatto for myself too then.''_

 _She nodded to herself proudly before walking back inside. With her back turned, she took a quick glance at her neighbor and her eyes widened. The eight year old boy jumped from his balcony to hers. Before she could fully understand what was going on, he collided with her. He was on top of her and the first thing he did was asking about the whereabouts of the amanatto. The answer he received was a flabbergasted girl who then laughed loudly. Infected by her, he started to laugh too._

* * *

The next day after he walked Hinamori to school again. In order to prevent herself turning into a creeper who constantly stared at him like yesterday, the girl avoided eye contact with him during this sparkling, pastel colored moment.

Harsh words were exchanged between the blob of students. Those two were together more often. Too often. It was all her fault! She guilt tripped him into walking with her to school and back to home! They bet she made those 'accidents' happen on purpose to gain pity from him. There were no other possibilities, that'd be silly.

They played tennis during gym class, the sport Hinamori excelled in. Or any sport where she can hit a small round object with something, really. Unlucky as she may be, she was the queen of baseball, tennis, table tennis, badminton and squash. Any other day, her classmates would be impressed, but now... . It fueled their anger. She already got the advantage of being his childhood friend, so naturally he was fond of her to some degree. That meant a lot since he was quite distant with everybody else. And now she one-upped everyone during gym class effortlessly. One of the girls, Student 33, approached her with a smile. "Hey, class rep. Soifon-sensei asked if you could take all the tennis rackets back to the storage room."

"Sure, leave it to me!" Hinamori received two heavy bags with the rackets from the girl. She sulked when she realized the entrance to the storage room was outside. She better hurry. The bags were held awkwardly with both of her hands, obscuring her view. Her focus on not stumbling was very intense as she did not see someone waving at her, but instead walked right past that person. The weird sensation continued from yesterday; the sensation of having seen this happening many times. A girl gets told to go to a room all by her lonesome. She inspects the room, in search for the one who called her. Or if she got business to do in the room and finishes doing whatever, like dropping off school equipment, the moment she's ready to leave... .

Click.

She got locked up. High-pitched giggling noises convinced her this was a setup. Panic emerged within her. A prank? No, you couldn't write off trapping someone as merely a prank. Why did they do this? Her reputation with the other students went from neutral to well liked in general. Although, recently she felt animosity from the female students... . Surely, the reason why they targeted her couldn't be-

"Getting conceited, are we? Just because you're his friend doesn't mean you can keep him all for yourself!"

No way, it actually was for that reason. The panic got overshadowed by irritation instantly. Oh, they got to be kidding her! "For you to go this far; to behave so irrational. It's because of a boy?!"

"He's not just a boy!" A different voice yelled at her furiously. "He's the Ice Prince of the school and he belongs to all of us! You're undeserving of him if you can't comprehend even that much!"

"We should leave the class rep. alone. She'll need plenty of time to think about where her position truly stands." Oh, the girl who told her to bring the rackets here. Who would have thought? They laughed maliciously again, footsteps fading away as they walked away.

After a couple of tries opening the door she gave up. They must have barricaded the door. She sat down, leaning her back against a vaulting box. Here she was, alone in a dark room with no way of escape. She wondered if this was what they call a damsel in distress moment? A damsel. In distress.

Huh? Wait.

Wait! That was where she had seen this all happen before. Now she understood what those déjà vus were. She spent the whole weekend reading these clichés over and over!

"Maybe I really am getting crazy, but... ." A hero always saves the damsel when she's on the verge of falling into despair. She was far from despair, but was it all right to believe someone would get her out of here fast? Nobody except the girls knew her location. Maybe she shouldn't get her hopes up. She was no damsel in distress, because there was no hero in the first place-

The next second, the door slammed open. A shaft of sunlight made its way through the opening, casting a heroic glow behind her savior. She squinted her eyes because it was too bright to see. From what she could make out, the person was wearing the male student uniform, his hair was spiky and tied in a ponytail. His sleeves were rolled up and the buttons near his collar were unbuttoned. The jacket rested on the his shoulders and moved wildly with the wind. And were those his sunglasses reflecting the light and why was that blade of grass sticking out of his mouth? There was only one person who fitted this banchou-looking description. When the light disappeared she could identify the tall figure.

"Abarai-kun?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I knew something fishy was going on when I saw them tailing you. They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Eh?"

Unbeknownst to Hinamori, the person who waved at her was him. He saw her carrying the bags and then he saw the girls smiling evilly going to the same direction. But Hinamori was on good terms with everyone so he didn't think they would try something against her. But then only they came back and, you know, he had an inkling what could have happened.

"Don't 'eh' me. Let's get out of here, your classmates must be looking for you." Well, the classmates who weren't infatuated with Hitsugaya. He spit the blade of grass out as he nudged his head to the exit.

While she was still a bit in shock by this horribly clichéd development, she nodded. Him being the person to rescue her was the most surprising part. If anything, she thought it'd be the janitor. It's been a while since they last spoke. Might want to catch up with him. "How are you doing? I heard you're taking your studies more seriously lately."

"For you information, I've always taken school seriously." He wasn't the ace of class 3-6 for nothing! "But yeah, I suppose that's true."

Yesterday Kira told her his motivations were connected to the Kuchiki family. Might want to dig deeper. "Because you admire Kuchiki-san?"

"To be frank, who doesn't? Just look at everything he accomplished so far and he's just at the prime of his life! Hear this, he-"

Hinamori listened to him bragging about the head of the Kuchiki family with intrigue. Unlike Hitsugaya and Kira, he was very upfront about his feelings which she appreciated. Admiration has that kind of effect on people? That was the kind of role Kuchiki played in his life, but what about the other Kuchiki? "You're also doing it for her, right?"

How did Hinamori know? Was he that easy to read? The answer was yes and no. Kira did help her jog her memory.

"Heh, Rukia told me she's transferring to this school next month. It's kinda late, seeing how less than half of the school year is left. I bet she wanted to show off to her brother 'cause he graduated from here too." He smiled proudly. "Once she arrives I'll show her I'm with her. That we both can achieve our goals by hard work."

Was that all? Don't get her wrong, his reasons sounded genuine and yet she felt there was more to it. From her memories, she knew Kuchiki Rukia was a graceful and somewhat tomboyish girl. Her and Abarai's personalities were so different, but they had a lot in common too. They both thought highly of Kuchiki Byakuya. When she was officially adopted in the family Abarai felt pressured. What worth was he next to that man? Was she out of his league now? He wanted to get accepted into this high tier school to impress both his best friend and her brother. He didn't want to be left behind.

"Are you in love with her?"

Abarai stared blankly at her before bursting into laughter. "We're the same as you and Hitsugaya."

Really? Their relationships were alike but, how should she put it, too different to be alike. Anyhow, she was glad she got more insight on her friend. Then he pointed out she was still wearing her jersey and should get changed before the next period. Hinamori agreed and sped off to the changing room. The second she was nowhere near his vicinity the air felt extraordinarily chilly. He searched for the source and as he looked behind him he met with glaring, turquoise eyes.

When Hinamori came to the changing room she saw that no one was there anymore. Was she gone that long? She shrugged and walked to her locker only to find it was already unlocked. That was to say, her locker was forced open. She eyed her uniform or what used to be her uniform. All what was left of was a pile of torn cloth. No point in changing her clothes now. On any other day she would feel sad or intimidated that they did this to her, but now that she read all of those clichés she was just disappointed in them. Ripping someone's clothes up was one of the oldest stunts in the book of bullying. It was more surprising that they left her duffel bag alone. They must be new to this whole bullying thing or else they would have stolen her bag too.

When she stepped inside the classroom she saw that all the girls looked at her and then ignored her. The boys awkwardly ate their lunch, not sure how to react to this situation. Hinamori slowly walked to her desk. Or would walk to it; an empty space was there instead of her desk. With blank eyes she stared at the open window. After adding one and one together, she quickly deduced what happened to her desk. Low and behold it was broken on the flowers of the school garden. Behind her she heard people gossiping.

"Hey, they say Hitsugaya-san spent the night at her house. Think they did it?"

"Hah, behind that innocent exterior is a perverted girl. Poor Hitsugaya-kun, to be tainted by a she-devil like her."

"Now we understand why she always hangs around those boys. Bet she got a taste of them too."

Classic, spreading inappropriate rumors about her. And the cause of this was… an obsession with a boy. Seriously, that was ridiculous. Without a word she left the classroom not caring about the stares she received. When she came to the teacher's lounge with the intention to tell her homeroom teacher what happened to her after gym class, she found out that both he and Ukitake weren't there.

"What? He's not here? Bummer." A girl with a pixie haircut appeared next to her. Her face, she had seen it before. It was the girl from 3-13, the class with Ukitake as their homeroom teacher, and she was unmistakably the nurse's little sister. Her disappointment was all but forgotten when she noticed Hinamori's presence. "Oh hey! You're that girl, Hinamori Momo, with the bad luck Ukitake-sensei talks about sometimes!"

"Ah, yes, that's me. You're Kotetsu Kiyone, right? Your sister talks about you from time to time." Or share her concerns about her Ukitake obsession to be more precise. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, likewise!" Her mood changed from bubbly to shy as she bit her lower lip. "Umm... . Does he talk about me too?"

Not... . Not with many words, but he spoke briefly of her a while ago. Although, he did have this nervous smile, glancing uncomfortably to the pictures on the wall. She'll leave that part out to spare the girl's feelings. "Uh-huh, he said you are very dedicated to him- I mean school."

A blush crept up Kiyone's face as she cupped her cheeks. Ignoring Hinamori's earlier slip-up, she squealed excitedly. "Kyaa! I've got to tell Kotsubaki. That will teach him not to compete with me. Clearly, our teacher acknowledges me way more than him!"

"Um." The ambiance switched from sad to passionate fury. What other response could she give than the forever intelligent sounding 'um'?

Unable to sense Hinamori's clueless state, Kiyone positioned herself like the members of the track team. Ready to sprint to this Kotsubaki guy. "I've gotta go. See you later, Hinamori-san!"

Tempted to yell 'no running in the hallway!' she stayed silent, watching the girl dash off. There on the ground she dropped a small plastic frame, specifically made to encase a photo. The first person that came to mind was Kiyone's sister. Lots of people carried photos of their family with them after all. She bent down to pick it up and then nearly dropped it when she saw that in wasn't in fact the nurse on the photo. With trembling hands she read the back of it.

 _'My biggest source of inspiration. The muse of my life for all eternity and beyond. Ukitake Juushirou.'_

Kiyone having this was a tad creepy, but that was all it was. What startled her was how he looked. It was a black and white photo. He looked a lot younger, around Hinamori's age. Good posture. Friendly eyes. Tender smile. And... .

She had to speak with him. She will return this back to Kiyone later, but right now she had to speak with him. Besides, it didn't look like Kiyone rightfully owned this photo anyway. She presumably used some unorthodox methods to acquire it in the first place. In any case, she had to find out where Ukitake was before going after him. Think! Where did a lot of confrontations take place in a school setting? She whipped her head to the stairs at the end of the hallway, mentally preparing herself to climb a lot of them in a fast pace.

Ready to sprint, she was. Ready to break the rules, she wasn't. She took long strides instead, not paying any attention to the strange looks some students casted her. This was a breakthrough! Somehow. How was this going to help her with the quest to become less unlucky again? And wasn't she doing something else before she met Kiyone? Wasn't she looking for Hirako to tell him about-

A hand covered her mouth, muffling her voice as she tried to protest. From the way her back touched against whoever it was, they were likely of approximately the same height. This person was stronger than her though since her struggles didn't have any effect. There she was, getting dragged into the dark, empty classroom. She was guided to a chair when the light turned on.

"What's the meaning of this?"

She sat in a circle with Abarai, Kira and Hirako. Hitsugaya joined the circle after turning the lights on. Kira smiled awkwardly at her which she returned with the same amount of awkwardness. Abarai muttered a 'yo' and wiped his sunglasses, using his bandana. Her teacher gazed at the childhood friend with raised eyebrows.

"This is an intervention, Hinamori.", Hitsugaya said curtly.

Her face contorted in a frown. Intervention? As in the trying to prevent her from something? "What? For who? Because clearly 'I' don't need intervening."

Kira guy fiddled with his fingers before meeting her eyes. Trying to sound as gentle as he could he said, "Hinamori-kun, don't you think that you're going a bit far? If you keep going this way, you might get hurt."

Going what way? Didn't she always get hurt anyway? And they were just minor injuries. Her eyes saddened, his roundabout skills were greater than hers. "Go on."

Abarai sighed loudly. Hitsugaya was in time to witness him rescuing Hinamori from the storage room and demanded to know what happened to her. He didn't know the full story, of course, but told the boy that some girls locked her up. Then Hitsugaya scowled and muttered something about her getting careless. And now he was here, giving his input about this whole thing and whatnot. "What he's trying to say is, you should stop probing. Sticking your nose where it doesn't concern you."

Ah, so that was how it was. Aside from Hitsugaya, Kira was the second most person who worried about her all the time. Naturally, after what occurred in the library and the storage room, assuming they didn't include the fact that both instances were out of her control (not to mention Kira was key part in one of them), he didn't want her to get into more trouble. But really? Her probing going too far? She made minimum progress to say the least. Hmm, she might as well hear them out.

She averted her eyes from Kira to Abarai. "And you? Do you think I should stop too?"

"Honestly, I want to cheer you on with what you're trying to accomplish." Two glares were shot at him, one from Hitsugaya and one from Kira. "However, even so, I do think you're rushing it. If it all comes at you in one go... you might revert-"

Kira shushed him immediately. "Shh! Don't tell her that!"

She pursed her lips. She could see everything from their perspective so why weren't they willing to do the same for her? They say they understood her feelings, but did they really? No. "Hirako-sensei, are you here to also persuade me to stop?"

He gave her advice. He told her to not get discouraged. He didn't coddle her. He didn't treat her as if she was a tiny, delicate flower where the weakest of breezes blew away all of her petals. Why was he part of this intervention? If he were to stop her too... . Impatiently, she awaited his reply.

He shrugged. "Nah, I'm here 'cause he wouldn't leave me be if I didn't. Contrary to your friends' beating about the bush methods, I fancy a more direct approach. I want you to keep doing your investigation. Being kept in the dark and staying ignorant simply won't do in the end."

She beamed at him, feeling incredibly relieved he still supported her. She clapped her hands together and said, "Then that's Hitsugaya-kun, Kira-kun and half an Abarai-kun against Hirako-sensei, me and half an Abarai-kun. Looks like it's a tie!"

"Why am I split in two?"

"You're neither against nor for the idea of me pursuing this path from what I've heard." Hinamori looked from Abarai to Hitsugaya-kun. She walked and halted when she stood in front of him, her features soft as she smiled. "I know what you're doing, but it's futile. Any attempt to make me quit is a waste of energy."

His lost impassive expression and looked sadly at her for a split second. The two childhood friends kept staring at each other as the room fell into silence. Abarai glanced at them and concluded that it all amounted to those two compromising. There was no need for him to be here anymore. Getting out of here and let them get some privacy was for the best. He suggested this in a whisper to the other two, gaining approval from the teacher.

Unexpectedly, Kira blocked them. With a vexed expression he looked at the teacher and spoke up. "How could you say that? She doesn't need to know what happened. Staying ignorant won't hurt her. She shouldn't remember. I don't want her to remember."

She didn't break eye contact with Hitsugaya when Kira said that. She felt sorry for Kira, but she had to remember. For her and their sake, she had to remember. In her time of confusion, when all she had where memories from grade school and some from her early middle school life, they cared for her deeply. They knew she lost all the fun times they spent together; that the building blocks of their friendship were largely missing. She wanted them back. The good and bad times, she wanted to reclaim all of them. If giving them distress first was what it took in order to do so then... .

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being so utterly selfish. The one who deserves blame is me, not the teacher." An apology won't be satisfactory, but it was the only thing she could offer. It wasn't just Kira; the apology was also addressed to Abarai, Hirako, and especially Hitsugaya. Her oldest friend unquestionably suffered the most.

"I... I already know the answer, but are you sure you want to do this?", Hitsugaya asked.

She was treading on thin ice in the middle of a frozen lake. Beneath her feet, through the clear ice was a tiny spark, she saw an old treasure chest slowly sinking towards the bottom. It had a small silver plate with her name engraved on it and bound to contain all what she had lost. If she wasn't cautious where she walked, the ice will break and she will fall into the deep unknown. At the water's edge her friends could be heard, screaming at her to cross the lake and go back to them. She knew that if she crossed the lake she won't be able to inspect what's inside the chest. Once it meets the bottom it will be forever out of her reach. Then there was the other outcome. The one where she knew that once she opened the chest she won't be the same person anymore as the one who stood on the ice.

"I need to fall." She will break the ice. "But if I fall too far into the deep, I won't be able to get up by myself anymore. When that happens will you help me?"

"Idiot." A soft smile formed on his lips. "Before you even got the chance to fall that deep, I would have brought you back up again."

"I know. Once that happens I will listen to you and drop this quest of mine. Please, bear with my idiocy until then."

He looked at her thoughtfully and nodded. What kind of best friend would he be if he didn't trust her? She gave him a nod back and without any further ado she exited the classroom. Without her presence they fell silent again.

"Right, we should wrap this up. You're all still expected to go to class on time." Following her example, the teacher went to the door. He glanced at Hitsugaya . "Didn't see you as type who got persuaded easily."

He wanted to retort, but Kira beat him to it. He sounded more defeated this time. "Hirako-sensei, you haven't seen her how we saw her. She refused to go outside for a long period as a shut-in. She barely spoke a word to us while we tried to convince her to go back to school. Miraculously, she slowly forgot what happened and one day turned back to the way she was. If she relived those memories again, she might... ." He shook his head. "As her homeroom teacher, you've said something irresponsible to her."

"Correct, I'm her teacher, not her guardian and so aren't you or you or you." He pointed at each one of them. "As her teacher, I want her to be able to grow as a person. That girl that walked through this door just now? She's consumed by her own curiosity and won't be able to free herself unless she feeds it."

Kira stared hard at the floor, feeling irked as Hirako went away. Abarai, who felt that there was no point to stay anymore, sneaked away to his classroom. This wasn't a real intervention now that he thought about it. Hitsugaya just wanted an excuse to talk to Hinamori, even more than talk her out of it. The others were there to make it seem more as an intervention, to hide his true intentions. Kira was the only one who was earnestly trying to stop her.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **gamma2015: Ahaha, yeah, we all know a flashback with that person is unavoidable X) Thank you for liking the previous chapter!**

 **Animorphia: I'm happy you like the interactions! I tried to make imagine how their relationships were in the canon material and tried to put that in a high school setting but more exaggerated :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Tropes 5

She ran and ran, her mind clouded with what was about to happen next and clouded with the promise she made a moment ago. She felt she discovered something that should have been left alone. Something mysterious. And boy, did she love her mysteries. Her body full of adrenaline helped her running up the stairs, all the way from the ground floor to the top floor. It was then when her hand rested on the door handle she started to catch her breath, realizing how warm she felt. Her other hand clutched the old photo and she straightened herself. With a firm grip she opened the door to the roof.

The heat from her body cooled down by the cold air. It was a nice sensation, but then the wind blew and she was freezing. Her dark locks swayed with the wind, however since her haircut was just a chin length bob it didn't look nearly as impressive as the spectacle in front of her. Long, flowy, white locks moved majestically from the left to the right. It looked so soft and silky she couldn't take her eyes from it. Natural white or silver hair always did fascinate her. You could thank her friend for that.

"Ukitake-sensei?"

The ethereal wonder that was Ukitake gracefully turned to look at her. The clouds drifted away so that the sun could beam at him and only him. Also a flight of white doves suddenly flew up, circled around him and then flew away. This alone put Hitsugaya's bishounen power into shame.

He nodded at her with a gentle smile. "I could guess why, but allow me to ask anyway. What brings you here?"

"This.", she said as she handed him the small picture frame with the photograph of a boy with black hair. "Um, could you confirm that this is a photo of you?"

"It is, Hinamori-san." His desolate gaze made her sad. Poor teacher. However, she must go through with it.

Her hand reached in her duffel bag and she took the school paper out of it. The same paper he gave her, showing him the class photo of the first students that graduated. She pointed at the boy who strongly resembled the teacher's old photograph. "Then what about him?"

This photo was over a hundred years old. The teacher standing before her looked in his early to mid-thirties. And while she was aware of the possibility that the two could have been related, they didn't just share the same facial features... they were the exact same facial features. There were no differences. At all.

"You already know the answer to that one."

She swallowed, unable to wrap her head around the fact that this man was over a century old and managed to look so young. Unless, of course, "Are you immortal? Found the spring of eternal youth, perhaps?"

A light chuckle, the kind of chuckle one made when they found something or someone endearing. A sound that positively confused her more. "No, but you're not that wrong either. As you can see, I did age. Not much, but time does pass for me. It's... complicated, you could say."

Complicated. Of course.

"And your classmates in the photo? Are they also... ?"

"No, they are no longer here. Their children have left too. And some of their children as well." He still smiled at her, leaving her speechless.

He was the only one left. He was not immortal. He gave her those paper for a reason. He wanted to let her into his secret. He needed something from her. She connected the dots and she spoke again, "May I ask what's keeping you alive?"

What was it he thought she could do for him what he could not himself?

"Would you think me a liar if I told you it was a curse." He looked upwards, still being his serene self. "And that you too are cursed?"

With arms folded, she tilted her head a tiny bit to the left. "Not at all. Should I?"

 _'Things will change for us. Whether it's for the better or worse remains to be seen, but... . Let's both do our best, okay?'_

Those words made more sense now if they were both cursed by the same source. Besides, she didn't like to distrust people. Not to forget she loved to help others. Apparently, he did not expect her to accept his answer so readily as he lost his composure. He stared at her, his eyes wide. "Under normal circumstances, yes, you should."

"I agree." She nodded. "If we were under normal circumstances."

He nodded back, somewhat happy that it was her and not someone more skeptical. Then again, she was a very special case. "Thank you, Hinamori-san. I have faith you can break this curse."

This curse that connected her misfortune and his extended lifespan. This curse that if broken she would live normally again and he would... . She became pale. "If this curse is the only thing that keeps you alive then what would happen to you without it?"

A smile. The smile she was so accustomed to. The same smile that warmed her heart over these past years. "I'm long overdue passing on to the other world, don't you think?"

And more than anything in the world, he wanted to reunite with his best friend again.

The bell rang. Break was over.

"But doesn't that mean I would kill you as a result?" If she were to put the pros and the cons on a scale, ending his life obviously being a con, the cons far outweighed the pros. "I don't know if I could handle that."

"You're kind, Hinamori-san. It's completely understandable why you wouldn't want to be tasked with such horrible responsibilities." Responsible for his death that is. "And I will die one day even with this curse. Although, I rather not die a slow and painful one if I had the choice."

She looked at her feet. The curse didn't just keep him alive. It was also why he always fainted and coughed up blood. He was not supposed to stand here right now. He was not supposed to teach his classes. He was not supposed to be her infirmary buddy. He was never supposed to meet her. He was supposed to be in a grave. This man should be dead. Was it still considered killing if he was meant to be dead? She looked up to see his pleading eyes and slowly nodded. "Only if it doesn't require me gutting you with a butcher knife."

Her attempt at a humorous reply made him laugh softly and that caused her to laugh too. He choked on his laughter which was a sign they should stop and go back inside. She was late for class, but she did not care. Her teacher would assume she was in the infirmary.

She rubbed her arms up and down as they went down the stairs. The school jersey was made of a thin fabric and that did not please her. "Ukitake-sensei, what is the first thing I have to do?"

".. .. ... ...'. ... .", he said.

Hinamori blinked. "...Eh?"

He sighed heavily. "My apologies, but it seems I can't give you the full details. I can talk very little about the curse actually."

How very convenient.

"But I left you some hints. It's in the school paper I gave you." He felt her stare on the back of his head. "You're a bright girl, Hinamori-san. I'm confident you can find it in no time."

You know what? She was a bright girl! At least her grades said so. "I won't disappointment you."

"You still wouldn't if you tried. It's me who is afraid of disappointing you. I can't provide you a lot of... useful help."

She shook her head. Some hints are better than nothing after all. They said their goodbyes and the girl calmly went on her way to the classroom. Let's see, her next subject was... . Oh. Class. She forgot to tell Hirako about what happened after gym class. Now, she was all about the school rules and stuff, but skipping class did not sound bad. Who was to say the other girls didn't have anything nasty prepared for her again. She wasn't afraid of them, but she did not fancy the idea of dealing with them again.

"Hinamori-kun?"

"Kira-kun?"

He pointed at her clothes. "Why are you still wearing that? It's not as if you have gym class all day."

"Yeah, that would be exhausting." After that 'intervention' she did not know what to say to him the next time they met and since that next time was happening now, err, he was not going to like her answer. "My uniform is no longer a uniform. Hitsugaya-kun's popularity is not something that should be taken lightly."

And that was all he needed to hear. He put his hand on his chin with a frown, pondering why they did that to her. "But didn't everyone already know you two were close? What changed?"

What changed? Hmm. Lately, they started going to school together. And he and his grandmother nursed her back to health. That was all? "I guess he is showing his caring side more? Paying more attention to me maybe?"

"Ah, then he is partly at fault." He said that in a whisper, but she still heard him.

"...Why is that?" He wasn't the one who sneaked into the girl's changing room, destroy her lock and tear his best friend's clothes into pieces. He was the one who would break into her room and take care of her.

"He should have known better. There's a reason why you two stopped walking to school together. He is the Ice Prince, the boy that belongs to no one and everyone after all."

It wasn't because of his very embarrassing yet sparkly moment that kicks in when he was close to the school grounds? "We always had lunch together and went home together without trouble before though."

Yes, but then they only saw her as that clingy childhood friend he pitied so everyone ignored it. Then some of his fans witnessed things that could interpreted as romantic, such as the umbrella scene, and they couldn't leave her be anymore. And he knew that could happen so he acted aloof (or more than he usually was, the title Ice Prince didn't come from nowhere) around her so it wouldn't raise suspicions. He failed.

"Yes, well... .'' Kira stopped himself from saying what he wanted to say and sighed. ''Anyhow, since it's you we're talking about, he'll solve this issue post-haste."

Even so, she feels that it was an issue they both should solve. If the problem was the amount of time they spent together and Kira said Hitsugaya was at fault then so was she. "I'll talk to him."

She was about to walk past him, but he blocked her. "N-not now, I hope? You still have to go to class."

She was apprehensive of her skipping class, being a good girl and all. However, he was greatly against breaking any kind of rule, being an even more serious student than her.

"What about you? Why aren't you in class now?" Derived attention from her to him, expertly done if she thought so herself.

"The teacher told me that I should submit my poem to the school paper club president first. I just got back. Um, how's your drawing coming along?" Good. Keep being distracted.

"I'm almost done. Should I color it too?"

"If you want to, but it will be printed in black and white so... ." He shrugged slightly. "Anyway, I'm heading back to class and you should too."

The stalling plan did not last long. "I know."

Lacking her signature enthusiasm as the one who normally cannot wait to get inside and actively participate in class, she slid the door open. Giggles and whispers spread instantaneously. Lovely.

Her teacher didn't ask her why she was late, accustomed to her relationship with the infirmary, he pointed at one of the empty seats and she chose the one in the back of the room. Hinamori wondered if her desk was still missing in their classroom. The last period was homeroom so her teacher would notice that something was amiss. She glanced at the blackboard, it was stuff she already knew about. Working ahead had its benefits. Her eyes went from the teacher to the window ans soon she was daydreaming.

Hitsugaya enjoyed this kind of weather, preferring it a lot colder than her. Still, he wore a scarf so he can't be totally unaffected by it. She brought it with her today, neatly folded in her bag, so she could give it back to him. After her conversation with Kira she decided she'll do it when there's nobody else around lest they hunt her down with torches and pitchforks like an angry mob for monopolizing the Ice Prince.

That name never suited him, she thought. He was not as cold as ice nor did he behave very princely. She remembered him fondly as that blunt boy who once tried to socialize with the other kids from their neighborhood. He never sugar-coated his words and was therefore painfully honest. His poker face he wore whenever he spoke did not make him look any friendlier. They were missing out. They would never guess that beneath that icy layer hid a warm child. A child that was able to make the loveliest expression she had ever seen to his grandmother. He was absolutely not an Ice Prince. He was someone she held close to her heart.

Hinamori disregarded her other classmates. She was never good with situations like these due to her never encountering situations like these prior this day. They talked about her, but not to her. This must be what 'shunning' was, the kind of thing grade schoolers threatened each other with when they were fighting. The boys probably didn't even know why they weren't allowed to talk to her as they awkwardly glanced at her from time to time. She found solace in thinking that not every person was besotted with Hitsugaya. Still, those people were ever so reluctant to approach her because of peer pressure.

It was the last period, homeroom. Hirako mentioned her to come to him. "It seems your desk was thrown out of the window. It's not much of a desk at the moment though."

"I can move one here from a classroom that's not in use now.", she said, her eyes on the door.

"Hold your horses, I kind of have to know why it was there. On the poor flowerbed no less."

Why it was there? The flowerbed was directly beneath the window near where her desk used to be. So if someone were to throw her desk out of said window, naturally it would land on the flowerbed, she carefully thought. Although, that was not the respond he wanted so she kept that to herself.

She doubted they would meekly listen to what she had to say without jumping to the defense. She won't point a finger at anyone yet. "Because I didn't share."

Could it be related to her escaping from those girls yesterday? He stood up. "Let's get a desk. The rest of the class, you better behave while we're gone."

Getting a desk didn't require two people really. Point proven, she did the carrying and Hirako was just 'supervising' her instead of carrying it with her. It couldn't be helped; unlike Ukitake who spoiled his students with kindness, he was the 'try doing it yourself first' type.

"If it was just a harmless prank, I'd have faith you could take care of it on your own.", he said.

"Uh-huh." She'd feel the same way if that was the case.

"Do you need my help with this one?"

If he asked her this earlier, she would have said yes, but now she understood the problem better. And her friend would nag her about asking the teacher for help first when she should have come to him. "That won't be necessary."

"At this rate the class is gonna wonder why we're taking so long." He slowed his pace to match hers and lifted the desk together with her. "If it doesn't work out, you know where to find me."

Him, Ukitake, Kira, Abarai and Hitsugaya. She knew she could count on all of them when she needed it, but she just needed one of them this time. "Thank you, Hirako-sensei."

When they came back they saw someone had written a message for Hinamori on the chalkboard. 'Class representative, come behind the school when homeroom is over or else... .'

"Ah, this is... ." Blackmail? Complete with the 'or else' and anything. If it was any other day, she would be confused why. Now she understood the intentions behind this blackmail, she felt... rather 'meh', honestly. Writing on the chalkboard, for all her classmates to see. How showy. If they wanted to impress her they should have written it in a letter and put it in her shoe locker, place a disturbing picture with it and put tacks in her shoes for extra points.

She looked at her teacher with an unsure expression. Should she respond right here, right now? Or just let them wait after school for a long period so they'll think she's a huge scaredy-cat, and then... boom! She makes a dramatic entrance, an entrance she'd never dare to make at the beginning of the story, establishing the progress of her character like in those light novels she read- oh no, she was getting way into it.

He nudged his head to her desk; another way of saying that she should sit down and ignore it. He didn't plan to bring it up in front of the class and neither was she. Casually, she moved the desk to her spot and sat down as the teacher removed the text from the chalkboard. The sound of teeth grinding caused by her uncaring behavior worked as background noise until the end of homeroom.

At the end of the class, when everyone left to go their home or club activities or behind the school building, Hinamori was still sitting behind her desk. Right, she should just go home. She should go home, but the idea of confronting the ones who challenged her felt... tempting. She wasn't that much of a reckless person and yet she had this urge to face them. How strange.

She proceeded to walk to the stairs until she looked down and saw spiky, white hair at the end of the stairs. "Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Finally. You sure took your time." Ten minutes wasn't that much, was it? "What's with that look on your face?"

"Huh?" She tried to see her reflection on the window behind him. All she could see was her puzzled expression, which was to be expected after he said that so suddenly. "What look?"

"The look that screams you're ready to murder someone.", he said more sternly this time. "Want to tell me about it?"

Murder? Her? So she looked scary? The notion alone was simply ludicrous, but she should tell him. "Someone wants to meet me after school."

That was too vague. Next she'll tell him a love letter asked her to meet them after school. Although, he shouldn't have expected anything less from her. Going straight to the point was not exactly her style, not that she wanted to keep this reckless plan was a secret. Maybe she should think it more through. In stories, if a girl went alone and said something the group didn't like they would try to attack her. However going home wasn't an option either for some unknown reason. She had to go to them. "Actually, I would like you to come too."

"Me?" That was surprise. Hinamori rarely asks him any favors. Maybe this was her way trying to rely more on him. That thought made him feel somewhat-

"You don't want to?" She smiled apologetically. "It's fine if you don't want to."

"Hey! I didn't say I wouldn't!" He coughed as he looked away. "I-I mean, since I've got free time anyway I might as well."

"Thanks! Ah, I shouldn't let them wait too long."

Quickly, she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the school grounds. He muttered some incoherent words which she promptly ignored. The stares that were directed at them were also ignored. Right now, she could only focus on one thing. Soon a group of faceless girls entered her sight.

Hinamori called out to them, "Excuse me, but were you the ones who wanted to meet with me?"

Student 55 whipped her head to the Hinamori's voice. She grinned when she heard the girl, but that grin contorted in one of disbelief in an instant. What she saw was so horrifying, so disturbing and so plainly wrong. What she saw was... .

Her holding his hand. With their fingers intertwined.

Student 55 let out a shriek of despair, her eyes nearly bulging out. You might ask what the fuss was all about, it was just the two holding hands. Wrong. It was the Ice Prince and his plain friend holding hands. His hand belonged to no one! It should never touch another hand, especially one from someone below him. Oh, his sacred, beautiful and other adjectives describing how special his hands were. The group of students behind Student 55 also couldn't tore their eyes away from their hands.

Neither could the Ice Prince himself.

"What... . What is the meaning of this, class representative?!" She was seething. "How dare you taint-"

Hinamori held her free hand up and made a gesture that said the other should turn the volume of her voice down a notch or two. "Hey, now. No need to yell. You told me to come, didn't you? The message didn't say to come alone."

"It didn't need to! That sort of thing is common sense!" Student 55 shook her head vigorously. "More importantly, let go of him!"

Hinamori smiled sweetly. He told her she looked as if she was ready to murder someone, but she couldn't possibly do something as cruel as that. However... . "That won't do."

"What?" Everyone shot her a questioning look, including Hitsugaya. He could barely follow what was going on, all he knew was she tightened her grip on his hand.

"That won't do, because you have no reason to want that."

Student 55's mouth was agape. "Excuse me?"

The girl stomped towards Hinamori and reached for her collar. Her hand was slapped away before she could though, by Hitsugaya. No matter how confused he was, his overprotective side was permanently set on autopilot. With hurt feelings Student 55 huffed and caressed her throbbing hand.

"You... you're tainting him! You're keeping him all for yourself!" Tears started to well up from her eyes as she pouted. "A plain, weird girl like you. All you have going for you is that you're childhood friends with him. If you weren't, he would never have been interested in you. The one without a reason is you!"

Now that he finally caught up with everything, Hitsugaya started to feel annoyed. "Hey-"

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Hinamori could feel his hand twitching a little when she said that as she interrupted him. She wanted him to know that everything was fine by squeezing back. "I guess, I understand why you're so frustrated now."

"You do?" Student 55 eyed her with an uncertain expression.

"I do." At that moment, Hitsugaya saw her make that murderous face again. Hinamori was known for her naivete and her kindness. Someone like her, who was so forgiving, could never hold a grudge, right? But you know... . "A plain, weird girl like me tainting the Ice Prince."

"Eh?"

"A plain, weird girl making him stay at her house over the weekend. The image alone just grinds your gears, right?" Her words were meant sound understanding, almost sorry. Yet when you looked at her empty eyes, those words carried a different meaning. "Want to know what happened? Want to know how badly I tainted him? Want to know each and every detail?"

Even her forgiveness didn't go to that extent. Preferably, she would settle this amicably and that was what Hitsugaya thought too. For some inexplicable reason though, she just couldn't let them off the hook so easily. She couldn't murder them, but she could do something equally bad. She could relentlessly... crush everything what made them _them_.

Trembling lips, shaking legs and teardrops falling. Her friends stood next to Student 55 to support her while dealing with their own emotions. Truly, this was a girl whose heart was breaking. "What- what are you implying?!"

Time to deal the final blow.

"Ah, but it surprised me. For the Ice Prince, he wasn't cold at all." Hinamori threw him a quick glance and smiled warmly. "In fact he was very patient and gentle with me. It was a nice... experience."

Hitsugaya almost fell over when he heard her say that. It wasn't as if she was lying, he and his grandmother were nursing her back to health then. Still, it sounded so misleading. What weirded him out the most was that it was her who said it.

"No... . No!" Student 55 screamed as she ran away with the others soon running after her. Some of them bumped into other people or tripped over their own feet as they tried to escape from this nightmare. Their pristine, pure Ice Prince was no more and with that their identities as his fans. They were nothing now.

Finally, Hinamori sighed and let go of his hand. After a short moment of silence she said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting your reputation."

"Don't worry about it." He let her handle the situation by herself and it went mostly well. There was recoil to be expected however; rumors about their relationship. He never cared for rumors though, since he got used to them throughout his life. But he wasn't so sure about her who was more sensitive than him.

"The same goes for you too. I'll be fine so don't worry about it." Apparently, she could read his mind and wanted to reassure him. Right now, she had more pressing others things to occupy herself with than dealing with his fans and this was a fast way to get rid of them. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something warm cloak her body. It was his coat. "Huh?"

"You're going to catch a cold again if you just wear a jersey.", he said as he walked past her before she could say anything. He stopped moving when he heard her laugh. "What?"

She stood in front of him and wrapped the scarf around his neck. "At least let me return this to you before lending me something again."

"Ah, thanks."

She shook her head. "No, I should be the one thanking you so... thank you."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **gamma2015: I'm not very subtle about 'the past', am I? Ehehehe, I refer to the side characters with numbers because that was easier than coming up with random names and it fit with the overall tone of the story :)**

 **Animorphia: If you were worried about the bullying part, Hinamori pretty much ended it with this chapter. I prefer to avoid writing a story with bullying involved, but sadly it's usually mandatory in shoujo manga with popular guys and their agressive fangirls. I tried write it as cliché as possible and then solve the situation immediately to keep this story more on the lighthearted and silly side :D**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Was this really okay? From now on people will think they were in an intimate relationship. The Ice Prince fantasy didn't exist anymore. Hitsugaya no longer belonged to no one and everyone. They'll think he belonged only to her. At the time, Hinamori was aware of the aftermath, but she didn't think too much about it. After some contemplation she decided that she'll tell the truth when asked about it, besides she didn't exactly lie.

"Here." She gave the coat back to him after reaching her house. "Again, I'm really, really sorry about all this. I know I should have told-"

"It's fine, remember? I honestly don't care so stop apologizing." Seriously, it was starting to make him feel bad. Moreover, he was more worried about her reputation. Sure, some thought she was kinda nuts, but saw her overall as a pure and innocent girl. "Rather this than having you do everything by yourself."

"Right... ."

"Still, I never would have thought you of all people could pull that off. Saying things so misleading, it was so unlike you."

There was no reply to that for she didn't know how. It was true, she also thought it was strange. She could have ignored them, she could have asked them to stop, but she was unable to. The only thing she could think about, what clouded her thoughts was... destroying them. Utterly crush them into oblivion. This was also because of the curse, right? That wasn't what she genuinely wanted, right? Or was that line of thinking too convenient?

"Hinamori?"

"Ah, sorry. I'm a bit out of it today. Any- anyway, if you start to feel troubled or if you get harassed with questions about our relationship, then immediately come to me, got it? I'll tell them straight up we're not like that."

He glared at her. "Just drop it already."

Did he truly not care? In the past everyone except his grandmother and her were suspicious of him. The adults warned their children not to go near him which lead the children to speculate why. When they thought he wasn't around, everyone would speak ill of him. Who knows why, really. Maybe because of his white hair, his turquoise eyes or his standoffish demeanor. But even so, even if he was used to that kind of treatment, she still got sad in his place. That was why even if he didn't care, she did.

"Um, it's cold, isn't it? Do you want come inside?" With a trembling hand and chattering teeth Hinamori unlocked the door. She'll have to bring her gloves with her from now on.

"No, Grandma is waiting for me, but thanks for the offer." After declining he turned away from her. "See you."

"Yeah."

There was less than half a year left until graduation and then they'll turn a new leaf at university. She didn't mind dealing with his fans until then. In a way, she was secretly looking forward to it. Crushing them just felt so... .

No! Get a hold of yourself! She spread the paper wide open. She read the page where article about the class photo was. Let's see, let's see. Hints about this curse thing should be somewhere on these pages. Eventually, her eyes landed on a particular place.

 _'On this joyous day, the students were called to the gym and waited for their name to be called and __receive their diploma. Rumors had it that the hedmastear spent hours in his office to practice his __heartfelt speech.'_

Some parts were softly underlined with a pencil and could be read as: To. The. Headmaster. Office.

Ukitake wasn't lying when he said that there were still hints. With a nod, she decided she should go to the headmaster's office tomorrow. This was going very smoothly, she thought. Normally, you would have gone through difficult puzzles or harsh challenges to get any progress. Lucky for her, this wasn't some fiction so she didn't have to deal with those kinds of nonsense. Let's not jinx this.

She'll need an excuse to speak with the headmaster. He'll probably lock the door when he's out so sneaking in by the usual means is out of the question. But even if he let her inside, what was she supposed to do afterwards? Her lying skills were horrendous. She heard stories about the headmaster, about how unwilling he was to put up with stupidity. He would send her away without a single thought for sure. Then an idea came to her after reading the article again.

The next day Hinamori, wearing her spare uniform, and Hitsugaya walked to school together as per usual and completely at ease. While there were still some bitter stares directed at her and some weeping noises at him, the tension was mostly gone. Destroying their reputation wasn't all that bad, she thought. Even if they were now known as the couple who totally did indecent things to each other. On the way she saw Kira and Abarai nearing the school gates and called out to them. Both of the boys froze and looked behind to see her waving happily and Hitsugaya giving a nod of acknowledgement. Instead of greeting them back the boys smiled nervously, both incredibly flustered, and quickly paced their way through the gates. That was weird.

Sensing her confusion, he said, ''They heard about the rumors.''

''But they're not the type to believe in them.'' With a sigh she passed through the gates. ''I'll talk to them.''

''I'll go with you. It's also got to do with me.'', he said in a serious tone. It was to let her know it was impossible to leave him out of it.

After parting with him, she noticed almost half of her classmates were absent. All of them being female. Heartbreak must really be something, huh. Some of her male classmates stared at her incredulously and some refused to look at her while blushing madly. It seems that they felt a bit akward with her and the rumors. Hirako smirked as he sipped on his tea, began the rollcall and made sure the class resumed as if nothing strange was going on.

Kira and Abarai heard about the rumors from a group text message sent to everyone but to Hinamori and Hitsugaya. Suffice to say, the message contained some very disturbing things for their minds to even grasp. Of course, they knew some students were very experienced in this field, but not those two. Not Hinamori and Hitsugaya and yet, somehow they couldn't completely disregard it. Something was up between them and this could be a possible explanation. No, they wouldn't have acted so casual around them if they were in such a relationship, right? Certainly, Hitsugaya had his eternal impassive/irritated expression so they wouldn't expect much of a reaction from him. Hinamori on the other hand should be way more bashful. The girl who wore her heart on her sleeve after all! She wasn't behaving any different when she waved at them. Were the rumors false then?

Abarai wasn't sure what to make of the situation. The best would be to leave those two be, but it would be a lie to say he wasn't curious. ''Should we ask them?''

''Wouldn't that be sort of… you know.'' Even if they were false, there always was that weird atmosphere when Hinamori and Hitsugaya were together. If he asked about it, it may make things even weirder.

''You mean uncomfortable?''

The two boys sat down, leaning against the door to the rooftop. ''Totally. We've known them for so long, but talking about these kind of topics would be super uncomfortable. Especially since it's those two.''

''I see. I think you should still ask us directly.''

Kira and Abarai jumped simultaneously. Right next to Abarai stood Hinamori looking up to the sky. Hitsugaya sat next to her and yawned. How long have they been here listening? Forget that, how could they have gotten here in the first place? When they arrived here, the rooftop was as empty as could be.

Her intuition told her they would be on the rooftop, so they waited on top of the superstructure which led to the rooftop stairs. ''We aren't dating.''

''Huh?''

''The rumors are false.'', Hitsugaya said in response to their dumbfounded expressions. ''And what do you mean 'especially since it's those two'?''

The two boys looked at the childhood friends for a while and then sighed in relief. They assured them they honestly didn't believe the rumors, but were acting weird for some other reason that sounded haphazardly put together. It only amused Hinamori and thus she laughed at the two boys, which made them chuckle a bit too. Hitsugaya suggested they eat their lunch before class began and so they did. They shared some food together as everything has returned to normal.

''I'm sorry, Hinamori. Hitsugaya, too. A part of me did actually believe it.'', Kira said after a while.

Hinamori choked. ''Eh? We would never do those kind of things! Right, Hitsugaya-kun?''

''Right.'' Although Hinamori was 18 years old and Hitsugaya 16 years old, they never showed interest in that sort of intimacy.

Kira felt it again, the weird atmosphere. Should he press more? ''I'm aware of that. Both of you aren't the type to play around, but that's not what I meant. It's that the idea of you two dating that doesn't sound that improbable.''

Abarai gave it some thought and agreed. ''Yeah, it wouldn't be that farfetched if someone told us you were into each other.''

This somehow led to Kira and Abarai talking that Hinamori and Hitsugaya wouldn't be a bad couple. They were half serious, half joking about how compatible they were. Kira felt the weird atmosphere around the two getting heavier and heavier. Hinamori smiled, calling them dorks but deep down she started to feel pressured, but not by Kira or Abarai. The pressure came from Hitsugaya. She glanced at him sideways, when she met empty turquoise eyes. Before she could ask, he stood up and suggested they should return to class. There was a hint of disappointment when he spoke which made her question herself. Did she do something bad?

''Indeed, class will be starting soon. Let's go.'' Kira didn't want those two to feel bad, but he wanted to test them. For years he didn't know what was wrong with the atmosphere around them, he had his suspicions. Well, even if he wanted to help, it'd be better for them to do something about it themselves. Hopefully, this worked as a push.

Hinamori impatiently waited until the last period. She texted Hitsugaya that he could go home without her today. If she told him what she was about to do, he would truly think there were some screws loose with her. First she knocked on the door of the headmaster's office and then asked if someone was there. When no one answered back she looked around if someone could see her. Then she knocked again a few times until she was satisfied. She then turned around and walked to the closest window. Since it was on the ground floor, she jumped out of the window and landed safely on the ground. Stealthily, she pushed her back to the wall and slowly got closer to the corner. If the floor map was correct, behind the corner should be-

''What are you scheming?''

It was Hitsugaya. His timing was too good to be a coincidence, however that was the only explanation she could think of. That or he got some incredible foresight. He frowned at her and she knew why. Again, she didn't tell him about her plans first and that peeved him to no end. She made a face in response, she didn't have to tell him about each and every thing, did she? Fine, fine, he can have his way.

''Vandalism.'' She was so blunt about it, he just stared at her in shock. ''I'm going to break into the headmaster's office.''

'' _Why_?'' After receiving her text message, he did in fact plan to go home. It just happened that his last class was on the highest floor that was facing the side of the building where the headmaster's office was. It also just happened that he saw Hinamori through the windows, looking around suspiciously before knocking on the headmaster's office. It also happened that he was the fastest student of the school and could get there before she turned the corner.

''Um, that is.'' She was willing to him everything, but he was the skeptical type, you know. At risk of sounding even more crazy than she already did, she'll just have to show him. ''Information classified for accomplices only.''

She expected a scowl, but instead he seemed resigned. ''Fine.''

According to the class photo, the location of the photo should be here, right behind the headmaster's office. There you could see the large shoji screens covering the windows. Apparently, the headmaster at the time loved Japanese-styled rooms. Even after a century, they haven't replaced the shoji screens with more modern windows. Maybe it was out of respect for the first headmaster. When the coast was clear, Hinamori made tears in the screens until it was large enough for her to crawl inside. Hitsugaya, feeling unsure about all this, followed her inside soon after. It was a dark room, but there was still enough light making its way through the tears. It was a very minimalistic room with a tatami floor. In the middle of the room stood a coffee table and a little cushion next to it. Above the door hung a scroll with a chrysanthemum with 'Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni' written next to the fower. The rest of the room was so stereotypically Japanese, further description of the room would be unnecessary. It was also remarkably dusty, as if nobody has set foot in here for years. Maybe the headmaster was a bit of a slacker. In the corner to their far left was a bureau and large leather chair. Adjacent to the bureau was a huge bookshelf, almost reaching the ceiling, and it was chockfull of books and binders. The right corner also had a bookshelf placed against it, just a few inches away from the door. Upon closer inspection, they saw a large sized, metal safe taking up all the space on the bottom shelf.

''So, what are we doing here?'' Hitsugaya broke the silence when he calmly looked around the room.

Hinamori brushed her index finger on a lantern, coating the top of her finger with a thick layer of dust. She frowned. ''Searching.''

''Searching for what?'', he asked in annoyance. When she didn't respond, still scrutinizing her finger, he realized. If the headmaster was still using this room, some dust should have been moved or wiped away. Yet everything seemed as if it hadn't been touched in years. ''Hinamori, this _is_ the headmaster's office, correct?''

''It should be.'' The school records never said anything about the headmaster moving his office someplace else in the building and if he did, he wouldn't leave all of these documents here.

Hinamori walked over the bureau, to see if that also was left untouched while Hitsugaya read the labels on the binders. Since the back of the chair obscured most of her view, she tried to push it away. It was a surprisingly heavy chair so she used more force to move it away from the bureau.

''Ah… .'' At that moment, she caught a glimpse of the front of the chair. There was a man wearing a black kimono and a white haori sitting on the chair. Her eyes went from his magnificent beard to the rest his face and then to his hands. The skin was so dehydrated, it resembled a woody texture. It was like all the life was sucked out of him. Then, all of a sudden, the body slumped forward and fell on the bureau.

She screamed, dropping to her knees in the process. Hitsugaya ran over to her and placed his hand on her mouth to shush her. He held her close to him, waiting for her to calm down as he watched the man sitting in shock. Was this man the headmaster? He was certain nobody set foot in this room for decades and yet the corpse's appearance didn't seem to match that idea. It was old, but not that 'old'. Her hand removed his from her mouth. She took some deep breathes and smiled at Hitsugaya to reassure him she was fine. He was not convinced, but nodded anyway. Between the two of them, he definitely got a better grip on his nerves.

''Do you smell that?'', he asked softly. Somebody might have heard her scream and came this way to see what happened. They should avoid making too much noise.

After sniffing a few times she shook her head. ''I don't smell anything weird.''

''Exactly.'' If this was indeed a corpse, this whole room should be smelling horribly. ''Perhaps it's fake.''

Then again, who in their right mind would put a fake corpse inside the headmaster's office? Hianori agreed and picked a pointer stick up which was leaning against the wall. Slowly, she inched closer to the body and poked and prodded it with the stick. She did this for a while until she faced Hitsugaya and gave him a thumbs up. He merely stared blankly in return and walked past her. At least she wasn't scared anymore. They inspected every nook and cranny of the room peacefully, but alas no results.

''Now what? I admit that this all very suspicious, but I believe this isn't what you came here for.''

''Umm, I was hoping to find something curse related.'' She sheepishly poked the body again, for a fake it was very realistic. ''It seems I was on the wrong trail.''

''Curse? In the headmaster's office? You better fill me in when we're outside again.'' Great, they wasted time in this dark and dusty room for nothing. He went to the window to signal that it was time to go. Hinamori followed him but stopped suddenly.

''I think I'm going t-to… to- Achoo!'' Hinamori rubbed her nose. ''…Sneeze.''

''Bless you.''

She could barely hear it, but it made her smile. ''Thanks, Hitsugaya-kun.''

Her gratitude was met with confusion. ''I didn't say that.''

''Eh?'' Was he trying to scare her? Well, she refused to fall for such a lame attempt. ''Silly, who else could it have been?''

Behind her, she felt something tap on her back. The girl looked over her shoulders to see what it could be. 'It' and not 'who', because the only other person in the room was Hitsugaya and he stood in front of her. Compared to his previously slumped position, the body of the man sat up straight and tugged on her sailor top. His eyes were hollow, his face full of wrinkles and his dry mouth was wide open. He took to stick away from her and moved his mouth as if to say something, but all he did was laugh.

''Heh, heh, heh... .''

In an instant Hitsugaya grabbed the petrified girl by her hand to get her away from the body. With zero hesitation he carried Hinamori in his arms and jumped through the shoji screens, leaving an even bigger tear behind. After that, he kept running and running as far away from the school grounds. If that wasn't a fake body, did that mean the old man was still alive? If he was alive, did that mean he was the headmaster? If he was the headmaster, why did the room look as if nobody used it for many years? More importantly, what the heck was he trying to do to Hinamori?! Questions were swimming in his mind when suddenly Hinamori caught his attention.

''You can put me down now.'' How did people call this? Ah yes, he was carrying her princess-style. ''Also, you went a few blocks past my house.''

He stopped running and gently let her down. This girl, how much did she know? From the way she reacted this also was a surprise to her. That what she was searching for, was it even more disturbing? Something that had to do with a curse… .

He unknowingly casted her a suspecting stare and that made her feel guilty. She sighed and said, ''I think I know what's going on, but I don't want to talk about it in the open.''

When they arrived at his house, his grandmother already began to prepare their meal. She was pleasantly surprised to hear she was staying over dinner. Hinamori offered to help the elderly woman, but Hitsugaya dragged her away from the kitchen. She tried to make him loose his grip on her, but eventually gave up and obediently sat down on his bed, just as he ordered. She was going to spill it out, all of it, today. She made him promise to take her seriously, no matter how preposterous it all sounded. He gave her his word and then she told him all about Ukitake, the school paper, the class photo and then the curse she and the teacher were afflicted with. Though she still had her hectic mornings to go through, lately her luck didn't seem that bad. Still, she couldn't just let the teacher be. She bit her lip anxiously while waiting for his response. He fell silent when she was done, contemplating.

''Stupid.'' That was the first word he said after that. With furrowed eyebrows he continued, ''This is a story only the members of the occult club would come up with.''

A piece of Hinamori died, she honestly wanted him out of everyone to believe her. ''T-that is true, however-''

''Why didn't you tell me sooner?'' He flicked her forehead. ''Stuuupid~.''

If this was cartoon, her jaw would hit the floor in disbelief. She rubbed the sore spot on her forehead, ''You accept it then? You accept everything I said as the truth? Even if I don't have any supporting evidence to back it with?'

He shrugged. Her story was pretty weird. That body in the office was incredibly weird. Using weird stories to explain weird occurrences made it sound rather, for a lack for a better word, believable. ''Pretty much.''

Just like that, the piece that died magically revived as she lunged at him with outstretched arms. This caught him off guard and before he knew it he was enveloped by her warm embrace. It then dawned on her that she was lying on top him and that made her feel somewhat embarrassed. Or she felt that she should be, but this somehow felt really comfortable. Although, he probably didn't like it, never being a very 'huggy' person and all. Just so she could take a peek at her friend, she moved her face from his chest and giggled. He tried to hide his blush by turning his face away from hers. Cute. She always found him very cute. A cute boy she used to call a by a special nickname.

''Hey, hey… . Look at me.'' Her voice was soft with a hint of amusement. She hovered her head over his, alarming him. He rapidly covered her face with his hands so she couldn't see anything.

''Back off.'' He pushed her away from him, if only a little. ''You're too close.''

She tried to pry his hands of her face with no success. He must really not want her to see him like this. Too bad, her stubbornness made her refuse to give up. ''There's no need to be so shy, Shiro-chan.''

Then, his old habit made him loosen his grip out of irritation. ''Don't call me that, Bedwetter Momo!''

Hinamori knew this was a foolproof method to make him flustered. To seize this opportunity, she finally managed to grab his hands and push them above his head. Now she could see him up close and she was glad. Just as she thought, his rosy cheeks were too adorable. His glare not so much, but this was a rare moment so she wanted to stay like this just a bit longer. Besides, there really was no reason to be shy. This wasn't the first time they got so close to each other. She always woke him up with little space between their faces when they were kids. Granted, she did it partly to annoy him, but that's not the point.

This time, however, she saw something different in his eyes. His irritation was undeniably showing, but there was also something else. It was mysterious to her, it made her shift her focus from his face to solely his eyes. What was it that made him look at her like that? Somehow, it made her feel guilty. It made her feel anxious, but she couldn't stop looking. Unknown to her, he felt as if she bore holes in him with her gaze. With no choice left, he headbutted her which made her roll of the bed. They both groaned in pain, yet he preferred this than what she was doing. Hinamori chided him to which he responded that it was her fault.

After their banter, they talked about what they should do next until his grandma told them that dinner was ready. Hinamori continued to shove the food inside her mouth when she noticed his grandmother look fondly at her. She told Hinamori that she should have dinner with them more often. Hitsugaya added that his grandmother's cooking was way better and way more nutritious than Hinamori's anyway, so she would be missing out if she didn't accept his grandmother's proposal. Hinamori chided him once again for being so mean and thus they began their next banter. His grandmother chuckled, these kids were so very amusing. It surprised her, however, how long they've kept this up. Wasn't it time they made a decision? Or maybe they were stalling?

Water ran out the faucet to rinse of the plates. Hinamori offered to help doing the dishes. Hitsugaya was tasked to dry the plates. ''Momo-chan, how are you two doing? I hope you didn't get tired of this grumpy boy.''

''Hmm? We're the same as always. He could learn to relax a little, though.'' She yelped when he nudged her arm with his elbow.

''I see.'' His grandmother yawned. ''Don't wait too long, Toushiro.''

He stopped wiping the bowl Hinamori just handed him. ''…I know.''

Puzzled, Hinamori glanced at them. Waiting for what? There was a hint of urgency when his grandmother said that, but she couldn't understand from the context alone. She shrugged, well if it was important he would tell her. Probably. Hitsugaya waved his hand in front of her to get her attention. Ah right, they were doing the dishes. Quickly, she rinsed the next bowl and passed it to him. They didn't say a word to each other, but that was fine. Moments like these were appreciated. They had a lot of those when they were kids; meeting at the balconies, watching the starry sky in silence. When they were finished Hinamori wished him a good night and went home.

In her room she made the finishing touches on her work. It was an aquarelle painting of marigolds for Kira's poem. Satisfied, she let it dry and leaned back in her chair. She leaned a bit too far apparently as she fell backwards out of her chair. She was too tired to whine and instead opted to sleep on the floor tonight, too lazy to crawl to her bed.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **gamma2015: I'm glad that the Ukitake stuff was unexpected. I didn't want things to become too predictable for you XD**

 **Animorphia: Thank you for the kind words! I thought that as nice as Hinamori is, she also has a bit of a agressive side to her in canon too so that could help with the bully situation.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Just like yesterday, Hinamori was accompanied by Hitsugaya when they walked to school. Back to good old days, she thought. They got a bit more distant during middle school, but that was because they went to different schools then. It wasn't until high school they got to be closer again. Lost in her musings, she wasn't aware that she neared the Corner. Hitsugaya knew that her bumping into other people was inevitable so he let it happen. She never hurt herself when this happened so it wasn't that bad.

''Gah!''

''Eek- I mean, Kyaa~!''

''Hinamori-kun?''

Hinamori already got up and brushed some dirt from her uniform. ''Oh, it's Kira-kun's turn today.''

She held her hand out and helped him up his feet. Nice timing! While Kira and Hitsugaya exchanged greetings, she pulled a folder from her bag and handed it to the taller boy. He shot her a questioning look, but opened the folder without asking. His mouth was agape when he saw the painting she made.

''Impressive… .'' Still mesmerized by it, he faced her. ''I knew you could do it.''

''Thanks! I still think Abarai-kun should use his skills in calligraphy to write the poem. It will look more complete.''

''He will. I asked him yesterday and he said he'll do it today.'' He smiled softly. ''Looks like the three of us will be having a second collaboration. If all goes well, I can submit it to the school paper club today.''

The next instant, Hinamori grabbed Kira by his collar. ''I'll come too. We'll submit it together.''

He gulped, not used to her sudden aggression. ''Eh? S-sure, but why?''

Hinamori let go of him and smiled apologetically. ''Sorry, but I need to confirm something with Hitsugaya-kun so he's coming too.''

Hitsugaya stayed in silence and nodded. She was actively trying to involve him now. It took a while, but she finally did it. He wasn't so happy about Kira getting thrown into this, however. It couldn't be helped since the club specifically asked him to write the poem. They most likely won't accept it if the writer himself didn't show up. Kira wasn't fazed by this at all, those two were inseparable.

''Then, I'll come pick you after class with Abarai-kun.'' No need to pick Hitsugaya up since he'll wait for her on his own accord.

''Abarai? Why does he have to come too?'' Hitsugaya was obviously opposed to this. The amount of people involved into this craziness should be kept at a minimum.

''Ah, he didn't tell you? The club asked him if he wanted to be interviewed for the next issue. It's almost the school's 150th anniversary, remember? They went around and asked random students to tell some stories about their school lives and Abarai-kun happened to be one of them.''

Right, Hitsugaya also got asked, but he declined. So the four of them were going to the club from the start anyway, huh. The four of them? Something about this didn't sit well with him. Something off.

The class still didn't quite figure out how they should treat her. Almost half of the student body felt as if their raison d'être had been taken away from them. Yet, because they were too distraught or spent the last few days crying their eyes out, they didn't have the energy to enact any sort of revenge. It wasn't that she didn't care about her fellow students, but they were getting on her nerves. They'll be over it in a couple of weeks anyway.

Today was a good day, she thought. Most of the class assumed the rumors were utter rubbish and talked to her normally. It was Hinamori after all! She was too naïve to do anything that bold. Believing that everything was going right for her, she participated in class with her usual enthusiasm. Then in a blink, the last period ended. Gingerly, she packed all her stuff in her bag and sped out of the classroom. There she saw Hitsugaya leaning against the wall, waiting on her. Not too long after him, Kira and Abarai met up with them and the group of friends were on their way to the school paper club. The two boys proudly showed off the end product. Kira's poem handwritten by Abarai, decorated with Hinamori's painting. The girl clapped her hands excitedly, it truly surpassed her expectations. Even Hitsugaya was impressed, they should collaborate more often.

But the school paper club, huh? The president of that club used to be Hisagi Shuuhei, a student who graduated last year. The group of friends were on good terms with him, but he never told them who the next president would be. His reason was that even he didn't know, which the others always found very strange. With a knock on the door, they announced themselves and opened the door. Low and behold, the person who greeted them was… a regular generic student wearing a gray paperboy hat. They peered into the room, but no one else could be found. It was true that the club didn't have many members; however, they were a dedicated bunch who wouldn't just skip club activities.

''Izuru Kira, Abarai Renji, Hinamori Momo and Hitsugaya Toushiro.'' Said people were stunned he knew their names off the top of his head. They only expected him to know Kira who was supposed to write a poem for the paper and Abarai who agreed to give an interview. ''Welcome to my humble abode.''

Kira, who was also aware how fishy this situation was, handed the student the poem. ''I hope this will do for the next issue, um… . I'm sorry, I forgot your name.''

''No, no. No worries.'' He smiled at the poem approvingly. ''I only introduced myself as the president of the school paper club so you didn't forget anything. Anyhow, this is great! I'm glad I asked you, Izuru Kira.''

Kira waved his hands around nervously, rather baffled he called him by his full name. ''Ah, it wasn't just me! These two helped me out and-''

''With the art and the handwriting, yes? No worries, no worries! I'll make sure to credit each of you properly.'' The club member's jovial mood contrasted the darkening one of the others. How come he knew this much?

As the club member scrutinized the poem, saying things like, ''Ah, it's beautiful. Yes, quite.'', Abarai wondered if he should speak up and do the interview. Suddenly, the club member clicked his fingers when he turned his chair and crossed his legs. ''You're right! We've planned an interview for today, haven't we? We can get started when your friends leave the room.''

''Wait!'' Panicked, Hinamori showed him the school paper Ukitake gave her. ''I need to know who wrote this article about the seven mysteries.''

''Hmm, hmm. It was a really popular topic then – it still is – so it was more of a go with the flow kind of a thing.'' He pointed at number seven. ''It's not even complete. Unless, you came here to give me a suggestion, Hinamori Momo? If that's the case, you can leave me an e-mail. After the interview I'm heading straight home.''

Bingo. This was the student she was looking for. She looked at Hitsugaya to which he just shook his head. In the end, Kira and Abarai had nothing to do with this. This was fine, they'll come back here another day. ''No, that's not it. Seeing how busy you are, it's better talk about this sometime else.''

The student sat a confused Abarai down on a chair. What were they talking about? ''I see, I see. Be careful on your way home.''

Kira made his way to the door. ''Good luck with the interview, Abarai-kun.''

''We'll be leaving.'', Hitsugaya said. That club member was definitely hiding something.

The two boys left the room when it was Hinamori's turn to say her goodbye. ''See you tomorrow!''

Abarai waved quickly at her. ''Yeah, see you.''

Feeling rather ignored, the club member began to whine. ''Aw, I'm also here, you now! I feel left out, you know!''

The girl blinked, ''Ah, but it was meant to the both of you. I'll visit the club again tomorrow.''

The club member smiled brightly when she said that. ''Oh! In that case, let me give a proper reply!'' He coughed in preparation. ''Until we meet again tomorrow, Hinamori Momo.''

''Yes, until then.'' She turned away, walking to the door. ''Student 4.''

Puzzled, Abarai listened to this exchange and wondered if they did actually know each other. The club member stood there, watching the door close with a soft click. Abarai saw his shoulders tremble slightly, as if he was suppressing his laughter. It didn't take long for him to start his maniacal cackling, clutching his sides because they began to hurt. This alone spooked Abarai a bit. Why did he have to be surrounded by weirdos? His friends were plenty weird already. The club member stopped laughing, whipped his head towards Abarai and smiled at him. Without giving the oblivious boy a chance to ask anything, he proceeded his interview.

Meanwhile, the other three friends walked home together. Kira parted ways with them, leaving Hinamori and Hitsugaya alone. Last night when the girl had to spill everything what she knew, she specifically put attention on the school paper. That was when Hitsugaya noticed something, if his hunch was correct then that club member was Student 4. Judging by the reaction she got from the club member, he wasn't very adamant about concealing his identity. His laughter was so loud, even Kira and Hitsugaya who were farther away from the door than Hinamori could hear it. Well, even if he denied it, the clues were way too obvious not to come to that conclusion. It almost seemed like Student 4 wanted her to find him. Lost in thought, her pace began to drop rapidly. She was so lost in thought, she didn't see-

''Watch out!''

The car that suddenly appeared nearly hit her if it weren't for her friend pulling her back to the sidewalk. The driver honked his car horn angrily while muttering something to himself. It took a few seconds for Hinamori to understand the situation. That could have gone wrong, very wrong. She was lucky she had her friend watching over her, she thought. Her friend who was holding her very closely to him.

''Thank you. You can let go now.''

Passerby stared at the them, some smiling rather cheekily and others very disapproving. To them this looked like public display of affection. He hastily released the girl. ''I-it's not that- What I mean is, you should be more careful!''

''I'm sorry, I've been causing you a lot of trouble lately. Yesterday too, when you carried me out of the headmaster's office.'' She was so petrified by the old man, she couldn't move.

''If you're really sorry, you should take better care of yourself.''

''Yes, yes.'' Saving her from her from a possibly untimely death by traffic accident, carrying her away as if she were a princess and being a tsundere childhood friend. All that was left was them having an indirect kiss by sharing the same drink and him cornering her against a wall, creating a kabe-don and she would be fully convinced she was stuck in a dating sim.

''One 'yes' is sufficient. By the way, Grandma asked if you wanted to have dinner with us tonight too.'' Being alone with her grandson was nice, but having Hinamori over made it more livelier.

''Really? I would love to!''

Hinamori managed well living on her own. At day she had her friends to talk to, but at night she was the only one at home so it could get lonely sometimes, eating without company. Maybe she should get a pet, preferably a cat. Cats are cute, aren't they? What about one with fluffy, white fur to remind her of Hitsugaya and call it Shiro-chan.

''..na..ri.''

Or would that be too creepy? Maybe a different name. What about a flowery name? A white flower for a white cat.

''Hinamori!''

''Y-yes?!''

This girl was hopeless, getting distracted in a matter of seconds. Feeling silly about thinking a name for an nonexistent cat, she felt herself getting warmer. He repeated what he said before she spaced out and this time she listened. They chatted all the way to his house and then some more during dinner, his grandmother happily participating in their conversation.

A yawn escaped her mouth, what a nice dream she had - or more accurately, a memory. It was about her staying over at the Hitsugaya's when she was a kid. They ate delicious meals Grandma cooked them, ate juicy fruits together in the garden, ate the sweets they bought when Grandma gave them some pocket money… they ate a lot. Oh! Can't forget about the pastries they baked with Grandma, those were the times! At the end of the day, they were super tired and fell asleep shortly after dinner in the living room. The elder lady carried the children to the boy's bedroom and let them sleep together. She was half-awake at this point, but she could smell the familiar fragrance of his room. She must have been very immersed in this dream.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily and opened her eyes. The curtains mostly were closed, but a shaft of sunlight still made its way through the narrow gap. It was morning, which meant she should get up and get ready for school. She groggily removed the blanket from her upper body, but stopped when she saw the color. Since when did she have this pale blue bed sheet? She looked around the room and found out that it wasn't her room but Hitsugaya's. She sat up, trying to recall if she went home last night. After dinner, they watched some television and then darkness. In other words she dozed off and they let her sleep in his room. No wonder this place smelled so familiar. She placed her right foot and the floor and then her left-

''Ouch!''

Reflexively, she withdrew her feet from the floor. She glanced at the boy lying on the futon next to the bed. He scowled after this rude awakening, what a troublesome girl. With her face red, she profusely apologized for stepping on him. Great, he let her sleep on his bed and this was her way of thanking him… . Wait.

''Why did I sleep here?'' It would have been fine if they woke her up last night after she fell asleep. Her house was right next to theirs, so she could easily have went there and sleep in her own room.

''Grandma didn't want to wake you up so she told me to let you sleep in my room. Naturally, since you took the bed, I slept on the futon instead.''

He didn't have to do that. He should have used the bed. ''Again, I'm really sorry!''

''Just drop it. There's nothing to be sorry about, idiot.''

Ah, he was getting annoyed at her. She looked down at her lap and it then occurred to her she was still wearing her school uniform and it was full of creases. ''Um, I'll go home now. Thanks for everything, oh, and tell Grandma I thank her too.''

Just as she was about to stand up and leave, he grabbed her hand. ''You can stay for breakfast, you know. Then you can thank her yourself.''

Stop it. ''No! That is, I appreciate it. I really do, but I need to take a shower and iron my clothes and I feel more comfortable doing that at my house.''

''Ah, is that so.'' He didn't completely trust her telling the truth, but she appeared rather embarrassed so he let her go. ''Hurry. You don't want to be late for school, do you?''

''R-right!'' With that she threw the blanket to the end of the bed and ran out of the room.

People often say that it's normal for friends to help each other. She firmly believed so too, but this was too much. Even if they were friends, she felt as if he was being too helpful to her. He was too nice to her. No, he was always a nice person even if he tried to downplay it by making harsh remarks and he's been like that since they first met. Nothing was out of place, everything was the same as when they were kids. So what was it that made her feel so self-conscious now? Not only that, the guilt and anxiousness from the other day returned. Perhaps, she really was an idiot. Worrying about this when she was occupied by other things.

There wasn't much time left to think about it anyway, especially after spacing out in the shower. After eating breakfast in her own house, she hurriedly locked the front door. No problem, the school was nearby so if she ran for it she should still be on time. She spun around, only to nearly crash into Hitsugaya if it weren't for his sharp reflexes.

''You didn't have to wait on me. We don't have to walk together every day.'' Stop it.

He sighed. ''Even if you say that, I'm already here. Let's go.''

''I'm sorry.'' She was happy she got to walk with him and yet those negative feelings began to surface again. ''It's getting colder lately and for you to wait outside is… . I'm sorry.''

With furrowed eyebrows, he looked at her. ''Why? Why do you feel the need to constantly apologize for every little thing?''

Why? Because she was unfair to him. Even if they were friends, he showed so much care for her and she was grateful for that. She truly was, but she wasn't nearly as good of a friend to him as he was to her. That thought made her feel that she was unfair to him. Instead of doing something about it, she chose to apologize. Actually, that wasn't everything. She also apologized for something she wasn't sure about.

Because she was talking to him, the boy who demanded nothing but honesty, she couldn't give him a lame incomplete answer. ''I don't know.''

''Then stop it. From now on, don't apologize without a good reason.''

''But I-'' She paused when she met his icy glare. ''All right, but don't complain about me being remorseless after this! I'll only apologize when I've done something absolutely horrible from now on. So if I get on your nerves just because I did something stupid, I won't say sorry!''

''Good, you saying 'I'm sorry' was number one on my list of annoyances.''

''Hey!"

She pinched his cheek and laughed. He slapped her hand away, but with a faint smile. This morning, she seemed a little down so it was nice to see her happy again. The person she bumped into at the Corner happened to be Abarai. They asked him about the interview and he answered that the questions were fairly normal. He had to tell some funny stories about his school life or what his opinion was about the school in general. Despite the normal interview, he admitted that the club member was grinning strangely during the whole thing which made it feel like an eternity. Hinamori had more questions for him, but it was time for classes to begin so they parted ways before she could.

The teacher left at the end of the first period. The students took their books for the next class and waited for the next teacher to come in. Almost 15 minutes went by when the teacher came rushing in, mumbling apologies to the class. He put his stuff on his desk, but before he began his class, he read a note.

''Hinamori Momo. Are you present?''

Said girl raised her hand. ''Yes.''

''Go to the headmaster's office. Wait what?'' He was instructed to read this in front of the class, but why Hinamori? She was a model student, wasn't she?

''Understood.'' She put her books in her bag and slung it over her shoulders.

It didn't take long for the students to whisper to each other. There wasn't much left of her reputation anyway so she didn't mind it. Now, for the reason as to why Hinamori didn't ask why she had to go to the headmaster's office. It was simple, she knew that it couldn't be the body of that old man, the real headmaster. That knowledge alone was enough for that person to speak with her. She quickened her pace as she made her way through the hallway. She walked past classroom door 3-6, 3-7, 3-8 and 3-9. She heard the door shove open from class 3-10 and someone leaving their class. They didn't say a word and walked past classroom door 3-11, 3-12 and 3-13. They descended the stairs all the way to the ground floor. They didn't need to announce themselves, because the door opened when they were a few feet away from it.

The lights were off, but they could still see that placements of the furniture changed. The large bureau was moved back in the middle of the room. To its right and the left stood the bookshelves, hiding the tear she made on the shoji screens. The moment the two friends fully entered the room the doors behind them closed with a soft click.

''Hinamori Momo... Hitsugaya Toushiro.'' The voice was that of an old man. The same one they heard the first time they came here. ''Heh, heh, heh… .''

A light flickered from the lantern, revealing that the voice was indeed from the old man. His arms were propped up on the desk, his laced fingers covering the lower part of his face. Hinamori and Hitsugaya glanced briefly at each other and nodded. This was it.

''Drop the act, Student 4. We know it's you who's controlling the headmaster'', Hitsugaya said as he moved his hand along the wall, searching for the light switch.

''You're also the one who made sure the other members of the school paper club got thrown out. You wanted to have full control over what should be published in it.'' Hinamori pointed at the silhouette dramatically. ''Admit it!''

Hitsugaya finally found the switch and flipped it on. Just as they expected, the club member sat on top of the chair with his feet resting on top of the old man's bald head. The old man made a victory sign with both of his wrinkly hands while the boy clapped energetically and jumped from the chair to the table where he bowed to them. ''Yes, yes! Welcome to my second humble abode.''

''That's the first headmaster, right?'' If what Hinamori told about Ukitake was true, than that old man was also afflicted with the curse. Hitsugaya slowly looked from the old man to the student. ''He's still alive, isn't he?''

''Wrong, wrong! You're correct, but you're also incorrect.'' He nudged the old man with his foot. ''Yes, he's the first headmaster in title. In title! I'm the one who's really doing the job, taking care of this school and all. Give me some credit here!''

''… .'' Hinamori and Hitsugaya stared blankly at his theatrical behavior. What was wrong with this loony guy?

The club member coughed to himself at their lack of a response and continued, ''But other than that you're correct, he's still alive. Although, could you really call a soulless body alive? I mean, he died centuries ago, but I make sure to keep his body still functional.''

''You also cursed Ukitake-sensei and me! That's why he can't die and why I'm so unlucky!''

''Curse, a curse, huh? That sounds rather negative. Lots of people would love to live a little longer, Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni sure thought so. That's why he worshipped me in the first place and founded this school.'' He smirked when he saw their eyes widen. ''And you're not that unlucky. You've noticed it too, right? That your luck has been just below average the last few days?''

Filled with anger, she raised her voice, ''Th-that! – ''

''Wait, Hinamori.'' Hitsugaya placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. ''What do you mean by worshipping you? What are you?'''

The club member started chuckling, his voice getting louder and louder. ''Time to correct your earlier assumption! I am currently using the body of Student 4, the boy who I erased from the school records and thereby erased his existence in general. That's why nobody has ever heard of him, not even his parents. That's why I listed him as one of the school mysteries.''

Hitsugaya glared at the cheery boy. ''That's not what I asked you.''

''Incorrect again, you're on a roll today. Hinamori Momo, you should know. You should know that I've already given you an answer to his question. You, who has been reading that article over and over again.''

Unlike her, Hitsugaya only read the article once and couldn't remember the specifics of it. Everyone was watching her expectantly. It was true, knew it ever since she saw the body of the first headmaster. Balling her fists tightly, she said, ''Mystery number three, the headmaster is possessed by a supernatural being.''

''Correct.'' For the first time, his voice sounded stern. ''I am a deity who goes by the name Soul King.''

''Soul King?'' Hitsugaya couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it, but that 'boy' started to levitate from the table towards them. Hitsugaya grabbed Hinamori to put more space between them and the 'boy'.

''Congratulations, you just proved your ears are working perfectly. Yes, I am the Soul King.'' He sighed in disappointment. He hoped they would be more freaked out by him flying through the air. He didn't get to show off his superpowers very often, you know. ''Anyway, you're in real 'bad luck' if you expect me to undo your curse. Why do you think I put them on people in the first place?''

Hinamori couldn't contain herself anymore. This Soul King was really pissing her off. ''That's what I want to ask you! Why did you curse us?!''

The 'boy' put a finger to his lips. ''Not telling.''

''Then why did you call us here? Just to tell us who you are and brag about you divine powers?''

He shook his head. ''No, no, of course not! A deity ought to keep some secrets to himself, you know? I might tell you when I feel like it. Or not. But I'm not heartless, I'm very gracious in fact. I called you here to bless you with some handy knowledge. Right here, right now.''

Hinamori and Hitsugaya both spoke at the same time. ''Knowledge?''

''How cute, you two are in sync and everything.'' They both shot him a glare. ''Anyhow, yes knowledge. I won't tell you why I cursed you, yet. However I will tell you how to break the curse.''

Could she trust him? No, she couldn't, but even so. ''…Go on.''

He grinned. ''You'll have to destroy me.''

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **gamma2015: Happy you like the Hitsuhina! Also happy you didn't see the office scene coming :D**

 **Animorphia: Thank you, I kinda wanted to do the dramatic guy carying the girl and jumping through the window thing and have a little fun with it :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The two friends, the self-proclaimed deity and the first headmaster all stood in silence. Hinamori stared at the floating body of Student 4, his eyes were glowing as he smiled.

''Destroy… you?'' Destroy a supernatural being? How was that even possible? She was just a regular high school student. Wasn't asking that asking a bit too much?

''I know, I know. Sounds overwhelming, right? I mean, we're talking about deicide!'' He twirled his paperboy cap around his finger. ''But no worries, there exists something that will definitely help you out. Something that has the ability to do the impossible.''

Anger was replaced with curiosity. Hinamori stared at the Soul King in wonder. ''What is it?''

''First you have to promise me you won't ask any questions about this weapon. In short, I won't tell you its origins, its powers in detail, why it's here etcetera, etcetera.''

''How fishy.'', Hitsugaya said. ''What about the repercussions when using it?''

The Soul King laughed loudly. ''That's the thing! This weapon is so ridiculous, there are no repercussions!''

''I understand.'', Hinamori said calmly. ''I won't ask any questions about it.''

''Hinamori!'' Hitsugaya scowled at her. ''There's no need to be so hasty! He's–''

''Ah, ah, ah~. I only called you to this office together, because I knew you didn't want to be left out. Understand? You're just an extra here.'' He wagged his finger at Hitsugaya as he said that. ''Hinamori Momo is the real star, you know? She's the one who gets to wield it, you know? Only people who are cursed by deities such as myself earn that right. But since I'm so nice I'll at least reveal its name, but it all depends on her.''

''It'll be all right.'' Hinamori held his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. ''What is it called?''

Once again, the room went silent. The being flew to the desk with his back facing them, trying to create suspense and then whirled to them. To his disappointment, the two friends looked unfazed if not impatiently at him. To save himself from the embarrassment, he narrowed his eyes while looking down at them with his arms folded. This pose alone should scream authority.

''Deus ex Machina.''

The two friends stayed silent, deep in thought. Actually, considering the situation they were in, that name did fit the weapon. In order to defeat someone called the Soul King a contrived development like this was needed, they concluded. After all, it took a ridiculous weapon to defeat a ridiculous being such him.

After a while Hinamori began to talk again. ''You said it was here. Did you mean in this room or somewhere else?''

''Duh!'' He clicked his tongue. Was it too much effort to pretend you were impressed? The youth these days. ''In this room, obviously! Why else do you think there's a stupidly large safe here?!''

Hitsugaya sighed, this brattish Soul King was an idiot. ''I thought the condition was that she couldn't ask any questions about the weapon?''

''Eek!'' He jumped a little in horror. ''T-that is because I'm the Soul King, the most gracious deity of them all! And since even I don't know, I won't tell you the password for the safe. The old man hid the Deux ex Machina in it before I possessed him, after all. Now, leave! I've already told you everything what I wanted to tell you.''

''That's what I don't get. Why would you tell her anything? Why would you leave so many hints to her, all so she could find you? Why did you want to meet her?'' Hitsugaya could feel Hinamori staring at him in surprise. So she didn't know he knew it too.

''Excuse me? Wanting her to find me? Whatever made you believe that?''

''Ukitake noticed it too, who the writer was of the school mysteries. He entrusted Hinamori, who was also cursed, with the task to remove the curse. This caused Hinamori to break into this office and witness the possessed headmaster, also known as the third mystery. It became clear that whoever wrote that article knew something about the school no one else knew. Before that, you made sure to ask Kira to write a poem for the next issue, then you asked Abarai and me for an interview. In other words, you made sure that everyone who was close to her was heading to the school paper club. If Hinamori noticed that, she would know that something was going on and go to the club herself. I told her that the person who wrote this must be Student 4, because he was listed at the fifth mystery. That one particularly stuck out to me, because it felt out of place compared to the rest of the mysteries. I thought that it was only there as a hint.'' Hitsugaya paused to take a breath. ''Such a convoluted plan. There must be simpler methods to get someone's attention.''

When the Soul King puffed his cheeks at Hitsugaya, Hinamori began to speak. ''I knew it, though. It's just as you said, I knew that you were really a supernatural being the moment I saw the headmaster. I only called you Student 4, because Abarai-kun was there too. I've confused him plenty already with my behavior, he didn't have to hear that a supernatural being was interviewing him. But I don't get it either, why go through all this trouble?''

''No, no. '' The Soul King put a finger to his lips for the second time, hiding a wide grin. ''That's exposition for another time.''

She pouted, this was one incomprehensible Soul King. ''Hitsugaya-kun, let's go.''

''Ah, one last thing. From now on, I won't be available at the school paper club anymore. The members that got kicked out will return. I'll choose a new president to replace me. However, I believe you know where to find me, don't you?''

She nodded. ''It will also be the last time we meet. Prepare yourself, Soul King.''

''A line fitting for a protagonist.'' He chuckled. ''I'll be looking forward to it, Hinamori Momo.''

Suddenly, the two friends felt an unknown force pulling them from behind and slid them out of the office. The door closed with a large 'bam!', leaving them in confusion. Hitsugaya pulled and pushed the door knob a few times without success. They won't be getting inside from this side anymore. He put his ear against the door and heard the sound of furniture moving around. Maybe the Soul King was busy moving the furniture back to their old place. Actually, he probably rearranged them in the first place so that no one could peep inside through the tear in the shoji screens. Couldn't he repair the screens with his superpowers?

A password to open the safe and obtain the Deus ex Machina, that was the next thing they needed information on. He felt her tug at his sleeve when they walked back to their class. ''What?''

''We should talk to Ukitake-sensei about this.''

''Right now?''

''Ideally, yes.'' The only place where they really met was the infirmary. If only she had a reason to go there… . Ah, forget it. There's no way something that convenient would-

At that moment, a soccer ball flew through the window and straight towards Hinamori's head, knocking her out immediately. Hitsugaya caught her before she dropped on the floor, somewhat baffled by what just happened. Kotetsu sighed at the unconscious girl and told Hitsugaya to put her on the usual bed. The nurse then sent Hitsugaya back to his class. This girl, she has been doing so well these past few days. She thought Hinamori finally learned to be careful so she didn't need to go back to infirmary so often.

Half an hour flew by until she woke up with a headache. When she would normally consider it bad luck to be here, this time it was certainly good luck. Next to her, on the other side of the curtain partition, she heard Ukitake mumbling to himself as he was busy solving a nonogram.

''The Soul King. Have you ever heard of him?''

A pale hand moved the curtains aside, revealing a coughing Ukitake. They both smiled softly at each other and began to have a conversation. He reminded her that he couldn't say too much, but that he did know that name. Ukitake, who was very ill since childhood, suddenly recovered greatly when he went to this school. He was still ill, but the symptoms rarely showed up. To anyone who didn't know any better, he looked like a healthy student. It was here where he met his best friend Kyouraku Shunsui and the headmaster. Both students respected the headmaster wholeheartedly, they even went to his office often just to have a chat. During their last year Ukitake's illness slowly worsened again. After their graduation he and his friend wanted to celebrate but Ukitake couldn't leave the school grounds, it was as if an invisible barrier was placed. That was when he heard a voice talking to him, the voice of the Soul King, telling him that his body belonged to him just like the headmaster. The day Kyouraku died, the Soul King talked to Ukitake again after years of absence. He told him that once he was done consuming the headmaster's soul, it would be his turn.

''He's consuming your soul?''

''Yes, he started five years ago, when he forced me to become a teacher.'' This meant that at that time, the headmaster died with his body an empty husk. ''It took a long time to consume the headmaster's soul apparently. I suspect that he consumed my soul from time to time, but primarily the headmaster. Now I'm his main soul while feeding himself slowly with Student 4.''

This was bad news. She was afraid to ask, but she had to know. ''What about me? Am I being consumed right now?''

''No, he can only manage two souls at the time.'' Hinamori blinked. How did he know that? ''He told me while he was bragging about his abilities. You may have noticed this, but he's not the brightest being.''

She nodded, he made himself look really childish. He was also very showy.

''Be careful, Hinamori-san. To be honest, in the five years he consumed my soul, he also did so with other students. Some lasted longer and some didn't. Once he's done with Student 4, it'll most likely be your turn.''

''I'll need the password to the safe before that happens'', she said to herself. If it was her turn, she won't be able to leave the school.

''For the weapon?'' He smiled at the girl who was staring him with wide eyes. ''I've been stuck here for over a century. It goes without saying that I would do some investigating on my own.''

''What about the password? Were you able to figure it out?''

''Oh, that's easy! I almost got to open the safe too, if only I didn't keep fainting,'' he said as he fondly thought about his various attempts in the office and fainting the moment he was about to enter the last digit. ''The headmaster was never the most imaginative person. He used the same password for everything so it was easy to predict. It's …., funny right?''

His voice went completely silent when he told her the password, which probably meant he wasn't allowed to say it. So the headmaster wasn't very imaginative, huh? Since it's a four-digit password, it should be a number that he could easily remember. ''Wait. You can't say it, but can you write it down?''

''No. I've tried many times.'' If he could, it would make things a whole lot easier.

''How about pointing at it?'' She rummaged through her bag to search for her diary and handed it to him.

He looked at the diary and then back at Hinamori. Ah, so that was how it was. After flipping through the pages, he found the date and put a finger on it. Hinamori circled the date and stuck a book marker on the page. That should do it.

Kotetsu came back after getting herself a cup of tea. Unsurprisingly, she saw the girl happily talking with the teacher. ''Hinamori-san? How are you feeling?''

''I'm feeling great!''

''Oh?'' The nurse smiled a little, but couldn't help twitching with her eyes. ''In that case you should hurry back to your classes. The infirmary isn't a place to loiter around, got it?''

''Ehehehehe… .'' Whoops, she forgot Kotsetsu's patience ran out with her a long time ago. ''Thanks for taking care of me.'' And with that, she took off.

The last class was homeroom. Hirako talked about the complaints some teachers had about students not doing their homework. Hinamori pretended to listen, eyeing the marked date on her diary from time to time. A four-digit number that you wouldn't forget easily.

January 21. The headmaster's birthday.

The next day Hinamori and Hitsugaya promised each other to meet at the headmaster's office after school. Just as he thought, bookshelves didn't block the entrance from the window anymore. The tear in the shoji screen did get repaired though, so maybe the Soul King wasn't that stupid. Then again, why didn't he just replace it with a glass window? Without a single thought Hinamori made a hole in the screen like she did the first time, with Hitsugaya following her into the office. The body of the headmaster was gone just like Student 4 was gone from the school paper club.

They didn't waste any time and walked straight to the safe. Hinamori put in the password: 0121 and with a click it opened. It wasn't a very safe thing to do, using your birthday as a password, but it was a date you wouldn't forget easily. The two friends peered inside the safe and found a rather long sword with seven branches, a Seven-Branched Sword you might call it. An impressive replica of the Shichishitou, but more shiny and a bit gaudy with all the gemstones and the gold leaf on the handle. She took the sword out of the safe and inspected it closely. So this was the Deus ex Machina. Somehow, it felt rather… normal? She didn't know why, but she expected to feel something when touching it. Like the sensation of power surging through her veins! Oh well.

Meanwhile, Hitsugaya flipped through the book that lay next to the sword. The author of this book was Hyousube Ichibe. He described himself as a monk and loyal follower of the Soul King. Rather than talking about how great the Soul King was, the contents of this book served more as a warning. Apparently, the Soul King is a deity that was willing to grant anyone powers, but in exchange you must give something in return. In exchange of all his wealth, the Soul King granted the monk powers to rewrite the meaning of objects. The result was that the man lost everything he could call his own, but he didn't mind it. He could write the word 'bubble' on a building, then blow on the building causing it to float and let it be carried with the wind. In exchange for his soul, the man was allowed to live longer.

However, people should be careful, the Soul King didn't just give you powers because you asked him. No, the Soul King chose the ones he deemed worthy. Someone he could call a protagonist of a story; someone with an interesting background and a personality that compelled him. He would bestow powers on only such a person, even if they didn't want it.

In order to keep the Soul King a secret from greedy fools and to protect the innocent people, the monk hid the Soul King. On the last page he proudly announced that he finally found himself an apprentice who was allowed to meet the Soul King. An apprentice who would continue hiding the Soul King when the monk was gone. His name was Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni.

Yesterday, Hitsugaya went to Hinamori's house where she told him about her conversation with Ukitake. He also memorized the mystery list just in case and it seemed like it wasn't for nothing. School mystery number two: the school building is actually more than 200 years old, built on a special ground. The school was presumably built on the ground where the monk hid the Soul King so that the headmaster could keep an eye on him at all times. Then, in the guise of a school, the Soul king had many students to choose from. He would take something from them in exchange for power. Or he could choose to directly consume their soul and, depending on the soul, extend their life span like he did with Student 4. In Ukitake's case he did both, he took something from the teacher while improving his health and then he decided to consume him. But then, what about the cursed Hinamori? Her soul was still safe which meant he only took something from her in exchange for power. But what power?

''It's all clear now.'' Hinamori held the sword high. ''He took my luck and in return, I'm his protagonist!''

''Protagonist… .'' The book did say the Soul King wanted to have someone he could call his protagonist. ''So, you're a heroine?''

She nodded and swung the sword around as she twirled. ''It's the only way it makes sense! How else would you explain all the crazy that's been happening these past few days?''

Hitsugaya dodged the sword and scowled at her. That thing was sharp! It surprised him how she could carry that heavy sword as if it was nothing. ''The book also said that you need to have an interesting background and be a compelling character. You're lacking both.''

''Hey! I'm plenty interesting!'' She glared at his impassive expression. ''I mean I, um, I… .''

''Personality wise, you're an upbeat and naïve girl who gets along with everyone. You've lived your whole life in a quiet neighborhood and your school life isn't exactly uncommon. There are tons of other people who are like you.'' Although, to him, she was a bit more special than that. Not that he would tell her that. ''In comparison with others, what part of your story is special?''

Hinamori thought about this. If she compared her story with Hitsugaya, he would surely be a more interesting protagonist. A boy with turquoise eyes and snow white hair, combined with his stoic disposition which made others avoid him. Her role would be the neighbor girl who liked him despite everything. That alone sounded more dramatic than her story of a regular high school girl with average looks. However, they left that one part unaccounted for.

''What about my middle school life?'' It was after that when she started her shoujo manga and otome games collection. ''What if something happened then what wasn't so common?''

''…We went to different middle schools. Kira and Abarai are the only ones who would know.'' If he remembered correctly, their school did make the news but they never went into the specific details. They just called it an incident. ''You don't know, do you? About the reason you got hospitalized.''

''I don't, but there's a… a small scar and somewhere on my back there's a similar scar. I don't remember having them before middle school.'' She put her hand on the area just above her belly. ''I think I got stabbed all the way through my body.''

''… .'' She never told him about that scar. No, now was not the time to think like that. Judging from how she sounded, she wasn't that sure. If someone stabbed her, she wouldn't know who.

''Or maybe I gave myself papercuts there, somehow.'' She laughed, trying to lift the mood. ''Anyway, I qualify for my personality and background. Which means my _upbeat and naïv_ e self must be what he's looking for.''

''Don't sound so happy when you say that.''

''Ehehehe~'' Happy. She lost three years of her life, but she must have been happy then too. She met Kira and Abarai during that time after all. She met Hitsugaya before middle school and Hirako and Ukitake after it. If she had to describe her entire school life with one word, it would be 'happiness'. Hitsugaya, Kira, Abarai, Hirako and Ukitake were part of that happiness. ''Eh? Ehhh?!''

''Hinamori!'' He watched the sword slip out of her hands and held her by her shoulders. ''What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?''

''I realize it now.'' With a grin she also put her hands on his shoulders. ''I 'am' a heroine!''

''Yeah? We've confirmed that not too long ago. And?''

''If I am the heroine, what is your role supposed to be?'' Her hands were now on his cheeks as their faces got closer. ''Think, Hitsugaya-kun. What kind of story do you think this is?''

''W-what kind of story?'' He couldn't concentrate when she was in such a close proximity to him.

''Does this situation remind you of something?'' She could feel his breath tickling her, but it didn't bother her. ''What are you feeling, right now?''

Embarrassment! He pulled away from her. ''Why ask me when you obviously know the answer yourself?!''

She let him go with a sigh. ''It's useless. Well, it doesn't matter anyway. All I have to do is destroy him with the Deus ex Machina.''

Speaking of which, she couldn't just walk with this out in the open. If a policeman saw her he would find her suspicious for sure. That would be such a hassle and even if she managed to take it home, she would need bring it back here when she was ready to fight the Soul King. Leaving it in the safe was an option too, but with that tear in the shoji screen, anyone could enter this room and there was no guarantee that the Soul King would repair it again.

''We could leave it with Ukitake-sensei. He isn't allowed to leave the school grounds so we can leave it under his care. Do you have any complaints?''

''None.'' He picked the sword up and almost dropped it because of its heaviness. Seriously, how did she manage to goof around with this thing with so much ease? ''When are you planning to fight the Soul King?''

''Tomorrow. Going after him now is a bit, um, nerve-racking. I need to prepare myself mentally,'' she said with some nervous giggles at the end.

''I'm coming t-''

''No, I won't forgive myself if you were put into a dangerous situation because of me.'' It pained her, but she won't apologize. ''Thank you, Hitsugaya-kun, for all your help.''

''Hinamori… .''

''Have a little faith in me. I'll be fine.'' She took the sword from him and struck a heroic pose. ''Scratch that! I'll be more than fine! Once this is over, I'll be luckier than ever! Or just averagely lucky.''

At last, he smiled back ever so slightly. ''All right then, Miss Heroine.''

Once the coast was clear, they left through the shoji screen and went back inside the building. Most students were gone, but there were still some around for club activities. Hinamori tried to hide the sword the best she could, with Hitsugaya being on the watch for nosy students. She knocked on the infirmary's door, believing that Kotetsu must have went home by now. A coughing Ukitake responded she could come inside.

''Ukitake-sensei! Looky here! Isn't this-''

She froze when she saw the person who sat on the stool next to Ukitake's bed.

''Momo?''

''Hirako-sensei?''

Wondering what the ruckus was, Hitsugaya looked into the room. ''Hirako?''

''And Hitsugaya too?'' His gaze went from the boy to the sword. ''More importantly, what are you doing swinging that long, pointy thing in an infirmary?''

Ukitake stopped coughing and laughed. ''Ah, that must be the Deus ex Machina! Good job you two.''

Hirako whipped his head to his colleague with a deadpan expression. ''What kind of silly name is that?''

The two friends glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Hinamori went to Ukitake and showed him the sword.

''Could you keep it for tonight? I'll come here extra early tomorrow to pick it up.''

''I understand. Leave it to me.'' Just as with Hitsugaya, he almost dropped the sword because of its weight. ''You're surprisingly strong, Hinamori-san. Or maybe I'm too weak, ha ha.''

This peaked Hirako's curiosity. ''Gimme that. It can't be that— oh, dang, this _is_ heavy.''

Hinamori blinked with her trademark smile. ''Hmm? It's really light though?''

Everyone in the room fell silent and stared at the oblivious girl. She had to be joking. Hitsugaya contemplated about this. If the ones who were cursed were the only ones allowed to wield the sword, then Ukitake should have no problem holding it. Yet, that didn't seem to be the case here.

''It seems that Hinamori-san is the one the sword chose,'' Ukitake said eventually and heaved a sigh. ''Frankly, I'm relieved. In my condition I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, much less deicide.''

''…Deicide?'' Poor Hirako couldn't follow this conversation at all.

Simultaneously, Ukitake, Hitsugaya and Hinamori said, ''Don't mind us.''

With furrowed eyebrows, the teacher accepted that they wouldn't let him in on their weird conversation. Ukitake put the sword beneath the mattress with Hirako's help. Seeing he was done talking with Ukitake about whatever teachers talk about with each other, he was ready to leave.

The two friends and the sickly teacher talked about her plans for tomorrow. She would get the sword from Ukitake in the morning, before Kotestu notices there was something beneath the mattress, and immediately go to the headmaster's office. From there she would go after the Soul King and end his evil doings for once and for all! Hitsugaya and Ukitake watched her getting all fired up while feeling sort of useless themselves. She explicitly told them that they should go about their day as usual and leave the deicide to her. Hinamori laughed, everything was going to be fine.

* * *

 **Author's Note - I'm sorry being gone for a couple of days! I was busy with school and still am so forgive me if the updates are a bit irregular .**

 **gamma2015: XD I had a feeling that you didn't see that part coming from last chapter. At least the story became a bit less predictable in that regard, eh?**

 **Animorphia: Ahaha, the Soul King is the reason why this story has a supernatural genre stuck to it. I'm happy you found last chapter interesting :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Today was the day! Today Hinamori was going to defeat the Soul King. She woke up at dawn, put on her uniform and went to school while chomping on some burnt toast. On her way, the first snow of the season began to fall from the sky. That reminded her, it was only a few weeks until Hitsugaya turned sixteen years old. Never the type to throw birthday parties, he would always stay at home with Grandma and Hinamori and they would prepare a meal with his favorite food. Hinamori sighed, what to do this year?

''Achoo!''

Cold weather did not like her at all. According to the weather forecast, it was going to snow all day. Great. She hurried inside the school, changed her outdoor shoes to the indoor ones, and hurried again to the infirmary. The door was open and inside the room was Ukitake sitting on his bed waiting for her. He stood up and lifted the mattress to show her the sword. It never occurred to her before, but the sword felt just right in her hands; as if it was made just for her. She swung the swords a couple of times and grinned with confidence.

''Hinamori-san, are you sure you're ready... is what I'd normally ask.'' He smiled at her. ''It may not be much, but I'll cheer for you.''

''Thank you.''

''Now, I suggest you be on your way. The nurse will be arriving soon.''

''Right.'' With a wave she ran to the door. ''I'll come back when I'm done!''

She couldn't see his sad smile when she left. There won't be someone to come back to when she was done. They already talked about what would happen when he was freed from the curse, but she never realized that the consequences would be immediate. Ukitake took some copy paper and decided to write a farewell letter in case he never gets the chance to say it himself.

To her surprise, the shoji screens were replaced with metal plates which made it impossible for her to get into the office the usual way. She went back inside the school and tried to open the door to the office without success. Again, it was tightly shut. Frustrated, she used more force and eventually slammed against the door with her body. Why? Why wouldn't the Soul King let her in? Didn't he want to face off against her? Wasn't that why he gave her the sword?

''The sword… .'' A lot of time passed just to open the door, there wasn't much time left until the first bell rang. She took a deep breath and swung the sword upwards, ready to slice to door open. ''Three, two, one… zero—''

''Hinamori-kun?!''

''Hinamori?''

''…Oh no.'' She froze when she heard those familiar voices. She turned around slowly as she lowered the sword and said with a nervous smile, ''Good morning.''

Abarai scratched the back of his neck. ''Mornin'… so can you give us an explanation why you carrying that thing?''

Kira nodded heavily in agreement. It so happened that Kira and Abarai both got a letter from the headmaster which said he wanted to talk to the two boys together. The letter didn't mention why they were called, but they had to come early.

Hinamori looked away from them, glancing at the sword. ''Funny story, actually. A very long story too! I'll tell you another time.''

Kira seemed to accept that she wasn't willing to talk about it, but it still bothered him. ''Why did it look like you were trying to hit the door with that sword?''

She bit her lip, thinking of a good excuse. ''I was… striking a pose?''

Abarai shook his head, totally unconvinced. ''Riiight.'' He passed her and knocked on the door, but no one answered. ''Eh? I'm sure we're on time.''

He took the letter out of his bag and read it again. Huh? Instead of meeting them in the morning, it said to meet them in the afternoon. Strange, did both Kira and him read the letter wrong the first time? Kira looked over his shoulder and noticed that the time changed too. They looked at each other confused, but shrugged shortly after.

''Now then, we should go to our classes.'' The two boys started to walk away from the door. Kira stopped when he noticed that Hinamori didn't move from her spot. ''What's wrong?''

''Ah, no.'' Hinamori kept staring at the sword. The Soul King probably sent them here to keep her from entering the office. Knowing Kira, he wouldn't be pleased if she skipped classes. Her form slumped with disappointment. ''It's nothing. Let's go.''

Her original plan was to go there early so that the other students wouldn't see her carrying a huge sword around. Needless to say, that plan went out of the window. She couldn't go back to Ukitake and leave the Deus ex Machina with him again, because Isane would be there already. So there she was, sitting at her place with the sword beneath the desk. Her fellow classmates tried to ignore her, but most couldn't keep their eyes away from the huge, shiny sword.

The last class was homeroom and just like her classmates, Hirako saw Hinamori's sword. At first they just stared at each other, but then he let it go and talked about some of the upcoming school activities and then let them use the rest of the period to do their homework. Whatever it was she wanted to do, he didn't have any reason to draw attention to it during class. She could tell him after school. Or not, that was fine too.

Hinamori doodled a bit on a piece of paper before looking through the foggy window. Unable to resist, she drew a smiley on it with her index finger. Then she drew a circle around it so it looked like a head, and after that the she drew the rest of the body. She giggled softly, might as well have a little fun. Now, what should she do next? What about some—

''Eh?!''

Just like that, everyone began to look at her direction. Even the teacher.

''Is there something wrong, Momo?''

Feeling incredibly embarrassed she lowered her head. ''No, it's nothing. Sorry.''

''In that case, please sit down'', Hirako said with a sigh.

She didn't realize she jumped from her chair in shock. Without a word she did as she was told and sat down again. Slowly, she glanced at the figure she drew on the window. It was waving at her with a cheeky grin. Above its head a speech bubble appeared with the text, ''What's taking you so long?''

''You would know why.'' Her voice was low so that the others wouldn't hear her talking to nothing. ''Why are you hindering me?''

The text disappeared and got replaced with another one. ''Busy with preparations.''

For what? He should have prepared himself before he gave her the Deus ex Machina! ''When are you done?''

''Right after homeroom.''

She opened her mouth to reply, but the drawing she made vanished completely. The window looked foggy again as there was never a drawing to begin with. Hinamori frowned with annoyance, he was just doing everything as he pleases.

Hirako sipped on his tea, watching Hinamori having a conversation with the window. Part of him found it very suspicious, but she wasn't crazy. Ah, she was done talking and started to sulk instead. Soon enough she would start doing some homework and sometimes take a quick look at the clock. So she had to do something after homeroom, huh? Something to do with that sword. Oh wait, she caught him staring at her. He turned his head away with a cough. Suddenly, he found himself waiting for homeroom to end too. Hinamori kept looking at him with questioning eyes before she focused back on her work. When homeroom ended she packed her bag in no time and scooped the Deus ex Machina from the ground.

When she wanted to make a run for the door, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. It was Student 48. ''I've been meaning to ask you earlier, but could it be that you're… a cosplayer?!''

''Cosplay?'' Soon she found herself surrounded with other curious students. ''Ah, you mean this thing! Um, that is— Eek!''

Hinamori almost fell over. Everything in the room started to tremble; some objects from the desks and the bookshelves fell down. Everyone in the room was alarmed and some even panicked. Could it be an earthquake? The building started to shake furiously, causing some students to lose their balance.

Without wasting a second Hirako said, ''Everyone, hide under your desks!''

Hinamori was about to do so, but stopped when she looked outside. From there, she could see some people on the school grounds and from the gates peacefully carrying on with their daily life. Actually, everything was completely calm which meant that the building itself was shaking. In other words it was the Soul King's doing.

''Momo, don't just stand there! It's dangerous!''

Cracks formed on the walls and some of the students started to cry. Hinamori ran towards the door, ignoring Hirako's objections. ''Please lead them outside the school once it stops shaking. Don't worry about me!''

The Soul King was finished with his preparations. The Soul King was only after her, not the other students. Because she didn't stop running, she didn't notice that the tremors were following her. The truth was that the classroom she just left stopped shaking as hard considerably. The other students were feeling very relieved but still cautious. Hirako told them not to move from their place. It was then when he also looked outside the window when he understood what she meant when she said he didn't have to worry. There wasn't anything to be worried about. There was no earthquake.

She continued to run when she bumped into someone. That someone being Hitsugaya who also noticed that this was an unnatural occurrence. He left his class to check up on Hinamori who was fortunately unharmed. Hinamori was less happy about seeing him here on the hallway; he should stay in his classroom with the others. She frowned, but couldn't say anything when she felt the floor becoming unsteady. Another thing that she didn't realize that was that the longer she stayed on one spot, the more powerful the shaking became. The poor floor couldn't handle it at all and therefore collapsed right beneath their feet. Hinamori instinctively reached for Hitsugaya just before they fell to the first floor.

Lucky for Hitsugaya, he didn't get hurt. For some reason, something soft cushioned his fall and something else shielded him from the falling debris. Feel sandwiched between these two things did feel suffocating. It didn't take long for him to understand that it was Hinamori who lay on top of him, with his head nestled under her chin. When he tried to sit up, he heard some groans that didn't come from the girl.

''Ngh, Abarai-kun… are you hurt?''

''Yeah, but I can't move my body.''

Ah, so that was what cushioned his fall. ''Kira? Abarai?''

''Hitsugaya-kun?''

They eventually got away from that uncomfortable situation. Kira and Abarai explained that they were on their way to the headmaster. Hinamori brushed some dust away from her uniform while pondering what to do. If she told them that they shouldn't go, they would want to know why and then she would have to tell them everything that happened so far. In any case, she couldn't allow them to get involved with her slaying the Soul King.

''Are you sure didn't mistake the time again? Maybe you should meet him later?''

''Nope!'' Abarai showed her the letter. ''This time we doublechecked. He wants to meet us now.''

Kira nodded in agreement. ''But that was a close call! You two suddenly fell out of nowhere. I wonder why—Aah!''

Just like that the floor became unsteady again. Hitsugaya looked up at the gaping hole from the floor above. The tremors there stopped, instead it was the floor they were on that was shaking now. He looked at Hinamori who looked back at him pleadingly. He nodded at her reassuringly.

He stood up and said, ''Abarai, Kira, let's get away from here.''

Kira blinked in surprise. ''Huh? What about Hinamori-kun?''

It was safer if they left her alone, but he couldn't just say that. ''We'll meet up later, right?''

''Yes.'' This time she also stood up. ''I promise I'll be fine.''

She extended her hands towards the two boys to help them up their feet. Kira reluctantly agreed, even though he hoped they would tell him a bit more than just a promise. Abarai wasn't sure about the whole leaving her to her own plan either, but he trusted her.

''But you better show up later. If you don't-''

''I know, I know. Please, take Ukitake-sensei with you too.'' Knowing her luck, he was the next one she'd run into.

And so the boys ran towards the stairs at the other end of the hallway. The students who were on the upper floor were busy hurrying down the stairs under the guidance of the teachers. Hirako told his colleagues that they should leave the building while they still could. He was the last one to get down and that was when he saw Hitsugaya, Kira and Abarai waiting for the others to go down the stairs first. He scolded them for just standing around. Kira and Abarai apologized and did as they were told. Hitsugaya let Hirako go before him, just to take one last glance at Hinamori.

She stood there looking outside the window while more and more cracks appeared on the spot she was standing on. When she saw students pouring out of the building, she felt relieved. They were under the impression that instead of an earthquake, the building was collapsing for some inexplicable reason. The students that were on the floor she was on, the second-year students, were - conviently enough - all on a school trip so she didn't have to worry about them. Hinamori turned away from the window and felt someone watching her. Her eyes met with his and she smiled as the floor beneath her shook harder. With her head tilted slightly to the side, she waved at Hitsugaya. Then she fell down as the floor collapsed.

Debris and dust kept falling down on the dizzy girl. Her body hurt all over, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. This hallway was also deserted it seems, good. She coughed as the last pieces of debris crumbled down on her. She shouldn't sit here, right underneath a gaping hole on the ceiling. This was the ground floor and just like the floors above empty. More than likely, the teachers would be calling for help in case there was still someone stuck inside the school. So before that help comes she should make her way to the headmaster's office.

''Alrighty then.'' Hinamori tried to stand but fell over almost instantly. Apparently she underestimated the amount of damage her body took. Slowly, she got hold on the windowsill and used it as support to help her stand up. ''Wait, the Deus ex Machina… .''

From the corner of her eye she saw something sparkling. Strangely enough, the weapon stood there leaning against the wall. She painfully trudged toward the sword and held it close to her. There was no speck of dust on it, shining as brightly when she first got it. It was a rather large sword, large enough to use it as a cane. With as much speed as she could manage, she went further down the hallway until she reached the headmaster's office. The door was wide open, inviting her inside. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance when she saw the refreshments prepared for her on the desk along with a fancy card that said 'Your welcome'.

Normally, Hinamori wouldn't take anything from strangers or from someone as shady as the Soul King, but… . She eyed the bowl with fruit punch. Her throat did feel dry, especially after inhaling so much dust. She dipped a finger in the fruit punch and licked it. It tasted sweet and she felt weirdly revitalized. All the pain she felt vanished the moment the juice touched her tongue. The Soul King made sure that there were no other students left except for her by causing the tremors and then gave Hinamori the opportunity to get her energy back. So he wanted to do this fair and square without the risk of harming innocents? Huh, maybe he was not all that unfair, in a weird way.

She poured herself a cup this 'fruit punch' and drank it all in one gulp. She looked down at her arms and her legs, all the bruises she sustained quickly faded away. Next to the card stood an arrow-shaped sign with lit up neon lights. It pointed to the chair behind the desk. Hinamori found a button laying on the chair and pushed it without hesitation. Soon a sequence of movements happened: the furniture rearranged themselves to block the windows and the door. The tatami flooring crumpled apart bit by bit, revealing a passageway underground. It stopped crumpling right before her feet. The moment she took a step towards the stairs, the lanterns in the passageway flickered on.

Hinamori walked further and further while looking around every so often. There were no fork roads she stumbled on so far, just a simple straight road. The walls were made of rocks and despite being so old, this passageway was well maintained. The Soul King must use people such as Student 4 whom he had complete control over. It wouldn't surprise her if he used them as puppets to keep this place clean. She gripped the sword harder, if she doesn't end this soon, she too will become like them. And after her will be another student falling victim to him in the future.

Her thoughts came to a stop when her face hit a large wooden surface. She took a few steps back and tried to soothe her aching nose. Upon further inspection she saw that it was actually a double door which almost reached the ceiling. Above the door hung a small, golden placard which had 'Soul King' engraved on it. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, mentally preparing herself.

She stormed inside the chamber where this Soul King resides. If it weren't for the sparsely lit chandelier hanging from the high ceiling, she wouldn't be able to see anything in this spacious room. She could make out that each wall had round, double doors.

"Welcome."

With the Deus ex Machina in one hand, she placed her other hand over her thumping heart as she scanned the dark chamber. There in the center of the back stood a huge crystal that emitted a faint white glow, inside the crystal was a figure of a man without limbs. That must be the Soul King.

"Excuse my intrusion." She bowed politely like the mindful guest she was. "You are the one, aren't you? The Soul King."

"I am indeed." His facial features didn't move at all. Was he using telekinesis?

She slowly moved forward. This was it. If she can pull it off, then her life would return to normal. She wouldn't be his 'protagonist' anymore. She wouldn't have to worry of her soul being consumed by him anymore. She wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.

She would be free.

"I hope you are ready for our showdown."

"How impatient.'' The faint glow shined brighter each time he spoke. ''You should know I am not a fan of a last battle without an audience."

She swore he'd smirk if he could. An audience? There was no one left here at school. Her friends and the other students should have escaped. Her eyes widened in realization. No way.

"Hmm, it seems you've yet to fully grasp what I truly am. I am the deity of this school. You thought that your companions could escape that easy?"

She heard murmurs coming closer until the other doors flew open. No, no, no, no! She was such an idiot! There was no way they could have left so easily!

"Huh? Where are we? I'm sure we used the emergency exit." She recognized this voice as Kira's. "Eh? What's going on?"

"No matter what stay awake! There's a clinic just a little bit... further. Huh?! This is not the outside!" This was Abarai speaking with Ukitake making some grunting noises.

Hinamori looked to the left and saw Abarai, Kira and Ukitake. She whipped her head to her right when the other double door opened with a shocked Hitsugaya and Hirako standing behind it. The four males stared back at her in confusion.

"Ah, now we can have our showdown with an audience. While we're at it, let's put the stakes higher, shall we?"

A loud crackling sound came from beneath them, slowly creeping higher and higher above. The students immediately focused their attention on the ground, unfortunately they couldn't see anything but blackness. Blackness and small insects illuminating around them.

"Fireflies?"

Said fireflies lazily flew around each other, eventually they formed large illuminating orbs. This time with more speed they attacked the legs of her friends, changing into crystals upon impact. The students and the teachers tried to run away, only to find out their legs were already stuck to the ground.

The Soul King spoke up again, "Now, my heroine, if you don't defeat me fast enough your friends will be encased in a crystal such as myself."

"Don't get so conceited. Sure, you are a deity who can change the story's direction in a split second. However, with this change you dug your own grave." Her mouth curled up in a smile. "You see, if I am the heroine then that means you're the Big Bad who's holding her friends captive. You've just guaranteed my victory."

She started to emit a warm, red glow around her body. Wind swirled aggressively around her, the chandelier swaying back and forth. The sharp glass pendants were threatening to fall off from the chandelier.

"What's happening? When did you acquire supernatural powers?" The Soul King who always talked in a monotonous fashion showed a hint of surprise. Hah, so even he didn't saw this coming. Not surprising since this is the first time she displayed this power.

She took a few steps back until she felt the double door behind her back, the wind howled violently with each second. Soon objects began to fly around. "When the heroine is in a peril, but more importantly sees that the people she cares infinitely for are in a dire situation, she can always count on the Power of Friendship!"

The double door collapsed, breaking in tiny wooden splinters when she sprinted to the Soul King with inhuman speed. The splinters fell in slow motion as she raised the Deus ex Machina to strike him. That action itself created another shockwave, making this place even more unstable than it already was.

5 seconds until impact. The girl hopped.

4 seconds until impact. The girl stepped

3 seconds until impact. The girl jumped.

2 seconds until impact. The girl aimed the Deus ex Machina at him.

Kira and Abarai gaped openly at this spectacle while Ukitake widened his eyes. Hitsugaya and Hirako stared impassively. They wanted to see what was going on, but with the wind blowing in their faces it wasn't easy. Hinamori hit the crystal with all her might, trying to slice it in half but she barely managed to scratch it before getting blown away. The force threw her high in the air which made her landing on the stone floor even more painful. She stuck the sword on the floor and used it to help her stand up. The others would have ran toward her if they weren't stuck. The crystal already reached their knees.

''Just kidding.''

''W-what?''

''Kotetsu Kiyone didn't just happen to drop that photo of Ukitake Juushirou. He and you didn't happen to meet at the infirmary all the time. He didn't happen to be on the roof when you confronted him about the photo. You didn't happen to get hit with flying objects which gave you an excuse to be brought to the infirmary. Every little coincidence and accident was all according to my plan. That includes your power level.'' The Soul King chuckled as Hinamori wiped some dust from her skirt. ''However, that doesn't mean I prepared a perfect countermeasures against that power. It's true that the Power of Friendship is incredibly strong, so why didn't it work I wonder?"

''Shut up!'' She glowered at him. She didn't want to hear it.

Despite the warning tone, he continued. ''Could it be? You don't really view them as friends?''

The warm red glow enveloped her body again as she prepared for her second attack. ''I told you to shut up!''

''Could it be? You fooled yourself to think of them as your friends?'' He was mocking her and she knew that.

Even if she knew that he was mocking her, it still got to her. ''Shut up, shut up!''

''You lost three years filled with fond memories of Abarai Renji and Kira Izuru. Even if you tried to rebuild it, your friendship is not as strong as it used to be. Ukitake Juushiro and Hirako Shinji are your teachers who you happened to like more than their colleagues. But what about Hitsugaya Toushiro? Normally the strength of the friendship you two share should be more than enough to do critical damage on me and yet… .''

''Just shut up already!'' Hinamori ran again to strike to crystal, but just like the first time, she only left a scratch before getting blown into air again.

With a grunt she stood up once more and ran towards him, scratched the crystal and got blown away again. This process repeated again and again and again for who knows how long. The others yelled at Hinamori to calm down, but she didn't listen. All she wanted to do was at least leave some real damage on the crystal. She got blown in the air especially hard this time, her back hitting the wall all the way across the room. She got hit so hard that her body left some cracks on the wall. When she fell on the floor for the umpteenth time, she coughed and wiped some blood from her mouth. Why? Why didn't it work? She was the protagonist. They were her friends. She glanced at them. They were her friends, weren't they? So why?!

''Hinamori Momo. What genre are you in right now?'' The Soul King suddenly stopped taunting her and sounded more serious.

''At first, it was a Harem.'' She didn't want to answer him, but he must have a reason to ask her. ''A typical upbeat and naïve girl surrounded with male friends. But since there was no real romance it became more of a 'Slice of Life' story with friends just being friends at school. Then it was 'Mystery' even though the mystery wasn't that good.''

''You hurt me, but you're correct. You were at first the protagonist of a Harem story and Ukitake Juushiro was the protagonist of a Tragedy. However, unlike him you succeeded in changing the genre I designated you. You concerned yourself so much with your friendships, desperately so might I add, that you never gave romance a second thought.'' The Soul King paused when Hinamori narrowed her eyes at him. ''Why are you so desperate about your friendships, Hinamori Momo? Are your bonds so feeble that you constantly have to tend to it?''

''No!'' Hinamori's yell echoed throughout the room. ''I just- I wanted to show my appreciation! I have lost three years of memories and they still stayed with me! They tried to get me back to school in their free time for months when they could have abandoned me! They could have let me stay as a shut-in. It's only natural that I—''

''They haven't abandoned Hinamori Momo.'' His voice cut her off. ''But are you the Hinamori Momo they love?''

Hinamori stared at him in confusion. What was he talking about? She shook her head, she was wasting her time with this conversation. She glanced the others, the crystal reached their hips already. She stumbled to get up and readied herself to attack him again. She ignored her pain and sped towards the Soul King with the sword raised above her hand.

''Did you know that every power I give out always return to me in the end? Your protagonist powers were just seeds in the beginning, using your luck as the soil to grow on. Your luck was depleting, but your powers were growing in return. It came to a point where the seeds couldn't sap any more luck out of you, explaining why your days became more or less normal again. You've grown so powerful in fact, that you managed to escape the Harem genre, something that you should never be able to do.'' His otherwise monotone voice almost sounded in awe. ''I couldn't wait to harvest your powers, but more importantly to see what kind of person you really were. In the end, you turned out be an empty shell of a coward. Tell me, girl. Who do you think you are?''

''I'm… .'' She tripped over her feet and fell. She knew it, but she never wanted to acknowledge it. She knew that most of the time, her friends would look at her with hurtful eyes. That the person they cared for was no longer here and instead a stranger replaced her. ''I am… .''

''Stupid!'' Hinamori looked at the direction where the yell came from. Hitsugaya was scowling at her. ''You've been a handful ever since the day we've met. You're troublesome. You're annoying. Too trusting of people. Too nice. Get worried too easily. You care too much, you forgive too much, you're too fragile but above all… . You're the idiot Bedwetter Momo!''

Her shocked expression turned into a smile. With trembling legs she stood up and prepared to attack the crystal again.

''It's disappointing this heartfelt moment won't have any meaning.'' The Soul King began to glow. ''It's disappointing how everything's going according to plan even with an extraordinary heroine like you.''

She couldn't completely comprehend what happened. Just when she was about to strike the crystal, the Deus ex Machina vanished from her hands and she got blown back instead. She managed to turn her body around while in the air to see where she was landing. There she saw Hitsugaya, the crystal growing faster and positioning his arms despite his struggles.

''Hinamori, watch out!"

She couldn't. It was too late for her to notice that the sword materialized in his hands. She didn't even notice the pain when she got pierced and the warm liquid flowing out her stomach area until she blinked and looked down. Her blood quickly stained her uniform and dripped on the ground.

' _Ah_ ', she thought, ' _this is_ … .'

''Hina…mori.''

' _This feeling of getting stabbed. In the same exact place as the first time_.'

''Hinamori!''

Her hand touched the blade, her eyes on the small pool of her blood. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at him. He was horrified and stopped screaming her name when he saw her eyes. She gave him the same expression as she did that day. Her glassy eyes void of life and her mouth formed a small smile.

Hitsugaya merely stared back at her. And screamed.

She couldn't hear him anymore, feeling incredibly serene despite the burning feeling from where she got stabbed. Soon her sight became blurry until her world turned completely dark.

* * *

 **Author's Note - Again, I'm sorry for taking such a long time to update! Even though the story is actually complete and all I really have to do is post the remaining chapters, I'm too occupied with school (with exams coming up this month and all). Sadly, the updates will still be irregular for those who still read this silly story.**

 **Animorphia: Glad you find the Soul King funny :) He didn't have much personality in the manga so I figured that I might as well have a little fun writing him.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The luxurious, red, velvet curtains pulled away from each other, revealing an enormous podium. Rows and rows of plush red seats filled the entire theater. Above the seats were the balconies for those who desired something more high class with royal blue chairs and opera glasses placed next to them. These balconies were near the podium: on the right side, the left side and one floating above the middle row seat in the middle.

Hinamori was located on the latter balcony. She looked at herself and put a hand on her stomach. There was no injury and therefore no excruciating pain. How did she get here in the first place? Why was she the only one here? Wasn't she dying? Or was this what happened when you die, visiting a theater just before going to the afterworld.

A robotic voice boomed through the speakers. _''The first part will now begin. Please find your seat and enjoy.''_

''There is no one here but me… .''

Soon the lights turned off row by row until the whole space was pitch black except for the podium. However, instead of actors entering the stage, a large white screen was lowered down. A light from the projector behind her was directed at the screen, showing the number ten counting down to one.

''I see, so this also functions as a movie theater.''

 _''_ _This is a story of a young girl, called Hinamori Momo.''_ This time the voice didn't come from the speakers. It sounded more similar to a whisper that traveled across the whole theater. It felt uncomfortable.

''A story about me? Maybe this is what they meant when they say that your whole life flashes by just before your death. Although, instead of flashing by, I get to see a movie'', Hinamori said softly. There wasn't anyone for her to talk to, but she was fine with that.

A twelve-year-old girl with two pigtails wearing a knitted sweater, a knee length pleated skirt and thermal tights appeared on the screen. Hinamori recognized the small girl immediately and what day it was. That's right, it was the first of January, she remembered putting effort in choosing her outfit. The girl took off her boots and ran inside the house, searching for a certain someone. Hitsugaya's grandmother nearly collided with Hinamori, but the young girl managed to stop just in time. She apologized, but his grandmother just laughed it off. Behind them, the ten year old Hitsugaya stared at his friend while eating a tangerine.

''You really want to go the shrine, don't you?''

''Of course I do! If we don't go early, it will get crowded and I know you don't like crowds.''

''True.'' He looked at his grandmother. ''Are you sure you don't want to come too?''

She smiled at him. ''I'm sure. Have fun you two.''

The next moment turned black before showing the two friends at the shrine. A small amount of people gathered around the stalls as the snow began to fall from the sky. It was a rather small shrine, but well maintained. Hinamori and Hitsugaya made their prayers and when they were done they went to see the stalls. Hinamori didn't notice at the time, because she was occupied with her search for some sweets to give to his grandmother, but now she was seeing things from the perspective of an outsider; she noticed that Hitsugaya was looking at her from time to time with furrowed eyebrows. They bought some rice cakes to eat at home and ate a candy apple together while walking around. He won't admit it, but he had fun talking about silly things with his best friend. So much so that he didn't realize that hours passed and the sun was setting. When the shrine was almost completely filled with people, they decided it was time to go home.

They were walking through the red torii gates in silence when Hitsugaya suddenly spoke up. ''Momo.''

''Hmm?'' She glanced at the snow piling on the steps before looking at him. ''What is it?''

''Hold out your hand.''

She eyed him curiously, but did as she was told. He took out two red amulets from his pocket and hesitantly stared at them. He seemed to be contemplating which one to give to her. ''You bought one for me?''

When she stepped closer to him, he closed his hands to hide them from her. ''Y-yeah. You're going to middle school in a couple of months so I thought you could use some luck with your studies.''

With what seemed a resigned sigh, he shrug his shoulders and placed one on her hand. She beamed at him. ''Thanks! Ah, but what about yours?''

''What about it?'' He tried to sound dismissive, but she still heard the nervousness in his voice. ''We've been out for quite a while. I will take these rice cakes to Grandma now before she starts to get worried.''

His face was flushed which was out of character. ''Hey, are you okay? Let's go home together-''

''See you, Momo.''

With those words he ran away, leaving a baffled girl behind. Indeed, the only reason why this day left such an unforgettable impression was because it was the first time she saw that side of him. It was the first time she saw the cool and collected Hitsugaya behaving like a child who was hiding a secret.

That day she should have ran after him and asked him directly what was wrong. Maybe she could have helped him with whatever was troubling him. Hinamori leaned in her chair when the projector turned off, leaving the whole theater in darkness.

 _''_ _That concludes the first part. Please wait for a moment while we're preparing the second part.''_

''You were such a dense girl. Well, you still are.''

Upon hearing that voice, Hinamori whipped her head to the seat next to her. Hitsugaya sat there with an impassive expression on his face.

''How- No, why are you here?'' He sure wasn't dying the last time she saw him. ''Are you a figment of my imagination? Guiding me to the afterlife after this movie is over?''

''No, it's the real me.'' He paused, looking rather thoughtful. ''Or as real as I can get. One moment your blood reached the sword handle, staining my hands red and the next moment I'm here.''

She blinked. ''But you're alive and well, right? You're not fatally wounded, are you?''

''Apart from the crystal encasing over half of my body and me stabbing you which lead to me blacking out, I'm fine'', he said sarcastically.

Hinamori nodded, they were both out of it in the real world then. ''You wouldn't happen to know why we're sharing an unconsciousness now, do you?''

''No. This is all rather bizarre. Is it because of your protagonist powers?''

''Maybe it's because we're linked by the Deus ex Machina. You're holding it and I, well, have it pierced through my body at the moment.''

 _''_ _The second part, requested by Hitsugaya Toushiro, will now begin.''_

''Me?''

Three years passed since the first part. Hinamori, now fifteen years of age, happily went to her classes with Abarai and Kira. Hitsugaya quickly understood what that announcement meant, this was the part what he always wanted to know about. Her mysterious middle school life.

This time her hair was done in a bun and her fringe was parted to the left. Hinamori was two years his senior which meant she went to middle school earlier than him. For some reason, ever since she started middle school, the two of them didn't get to talk to each other much. No, they were actually avoiding each other, except for the quick greetings when they passed each other by. Hitsugaya wanted to focus on his studies and Hinamori… Hinamori was unsure how to approach him. When his grandmother invited her to have dinner with them, all she could talk about was her teacher.

Aizen Sousuke.

She would talk about how gentle he was, how great he was at teaching and much attention he paid to his students. And Hitsugaya… Hitsugaya always scowled openly at her when she gloated so happily about this man. This awkwardness was no doubt also reason why they avoided each other.

One day, an alarm went off after a fire was discovered in one of the classrooms. Everyone had to leave the building. Kira and Abarai hurried to the exit along with their other classmates under the guidance of a teacher. Hinamori hurried out of the restroom, a bit panicked and confused. The hallway was empty and she figured that she should exit the building as soon as possible using a shortcut. She ran down the stairs, skipping some steps, before running to a different hallway. It was then when from the corner of her eye that she noticed a silhouette in one of the rooms.

This piqued her interest and the curious Hinamori quietly slid the door open. She smelled something peculiar coming from the room and went inside to search for the light switch.

''Hinamori-san?''

''That voice! Is that you Aizen-sensei?''

Sure enough, his form became clearer as he came closer to her. She couldn't clearly make up his appearance, but it looked like his right hand was holding something long. ''You should be with everyone outside.''

''That also applies to the teachers!'' She tugged on his sleeve. ''I don't know why the alarm went off, but we should leave!''

That was when she noticed that the sleeve she held onto was damp. When she let go and looked at her hand, she saw red. Then her eyes landed on the body lying behind her teacher. She ran towards the body, but stopped when she almost slipped on the puddle of blood. Her white indoor shoes was now dyed red with his blood. Ah, of course, that peculiar smell, it was… .

''Aizen…sensei. This person -''

''I did it.''

A chill ran down her spine. She turned around and tried to escape from the scene, only for the man to grab her by her hair. He revealed the long sword he held in his right hand.

''He was trying to get in my way.'' He raised his sword in front of the frozen girl. ''And now, as a witness, you're in the way too.''

The Soul King was only one of the many deities. Unlike Hyousube, there were other people who weren't so secretive about their deity. Aizen grew up in a cult of loyal followers of their deity and tried to spread the word about their beliefs. However, Aizen had a different kind of fascination with the supernatural than his peers. Just like the Soul King, the deity he grew up with was also capable of giving powers in exchange for something else. He thought if he could study the other deities, he could somehow find a way to abuse their powers and become a deity himself. One of his fellow cult member found out and confronted him this day, but unfortunately for him Aizen was not someone who could easily be dissuaded from his research.

The screen turned black again after Aizen ran his sword through her body. After that, an unconscious Hinamori was shown in a hospital bed with her friends watching he; everyone had such pained expressions when she woke up with glassy eyes and a hollow smile. After she was fired from the hospital she locked herself up in her room. She was in denial, that person who she trusted so deeply couldn't have committed such a horrible crime. She refused to tell the police anything when they asked her questions. Kira, Abarai, Histugaya and his grandmother (Hinamori gave the woman a copy of her house key so that she could keep an eye on the house when the girl wasn't home) would try to comfort her behind her door; always trying to convince her to leave her room, but she always refused.

No matter how well you thought you knew someone, in the end everyone is too unpredictable. She couldn't have faith in anyone anymore. One day, Hitsugaya's grandmother dropped something off along with some snacks. When she was sure that no one was there anymore, Hinamori unlocked the door and found a shoujo manga next to the snacks. She read the whole manga in one setting, finding the story and its characters to be rather interesting. She left a sticky note on her door thanking the elderly woman and asked for the next volume. Hitsugaya's grandmother happily obliged, willing to do anything to make the girl happy. Hinamori ended up reading the whole series and after that she was given a new series to entertain herself with. She later found out that one of her favorites was based on an otome game and ordered it immediately. As she continued to consume more and more shoujo manga and otome games, she began to see certain characteristics in every character. There was always a tsundere, a shy boy, a jerk with a heart of gold, a childhood friend, a nice guy who's really a jerk and many more. Hinamori found solace in the fact that these fictional characters were so easy to predict. If only her friends were like these characters, then she would never have to worry about them betraying her feelings. If only... . Her eyes widened, but maybe they already were! Hitsugaya was her tsundere childhood friend, his grandmother was wise and old person, Kira was her shy friend and Abarai was the tough guy who's actually a nice person. If she started to see them that way, then maybe she could predict their actions and motivations too. It was then when the real Hinamori Momo lost herself in her fanatasies and an empty shell was left. This girl didn't see her friends as real people anymore. She saw them as typical characters found in a shoujo manga.

One day, her friends visited her again and were surprised when the door was wide open. She greeted them with a smile and announced that she was ready to go back to school. She would start to see the rest of the world as nothing more, but part of a story. It was when she entered high school her unlucky life began and it was the same time her protagonist powers activated. She changed the genre, and the roles she had assigned her friends turned into a reality. Even if their core didn't change, their personalities were altered slightly to match Hinamori's perception.

They sat in silence together, taking everything in what they saw. So the Soul King was right, she didn't think of them as her friends.

 _''_ _That concludes the second part. Please wait for a moment while we're preparing the third and last part.''_

The whole theater was pitch black. Even though she couldn't see him clearly, she could still make out his silhouette. At last, he let out a sigh. ''Hinamori.''

''Y-yes?'' Her heart was beating a bit too fast for her liking.

''What are your thoughts right now?'' His voice was monotone.

''I admired him, I admired Aizen so much. I felt that I couldn't trust anyone anymore after accepting he did all those horrible things. You're all so important to me, that's why I wanted to find a way to trust you. Even if it meant changing the way I saw you.'' She heard her voice trembling. ''But I shouldn't have to do that in the first place. Hitsugaya-kun, you called me too trusting of people and it's true, but at the same time that trust is too fragile. That's why I even changed my view of you, the one who stayed with me for all these years.''

''… .''

''I'm sorry.'' Her eyes started to well up. ''I am truly sorry. I understand if you don't want anything to do with me any—''

''Shut up.'' His hand reached her shoulders and moved down along her arm until it was resting on her hand. ''You promised you wouldn't apologize over every little thing anymore.''

''No, you shut up! Aren't you hurt by me?!'' She couldn't see him, but she turned her head towards him nonetheless.

''I am.''

''…Then why? Don't you hate me?''

''It wasn't only you. We've hurt each other. The reason we started to avoid each other was my fault after all. You were uncomfortable around me after 'that' and perhaps you tried to distract yourself with Aizen.''

Her hand flinched under his. ''What do you mean by 'after that'?''

 _''_ _The finale, requested by Hinamori Momo, will now begin.''_

''I guess… you're about to find out.''

The twelve-year-old Hinamori showed up on the screen again, looking very baffled after Hitsgaya ran away from her. Judging by the torii gates and her outfit, this was a direct continuation from the first part. Hinamori shook her head and looked at the amulet. Her eyes widened when she read the embroidered character. He told her it was meant to give her good luck for her studies, but the character she expected wasn't there.

Instead it was meant to help someone find love.

Immediately, she understood why he was acting so nervous. The two amulets were both red and had a similar flower pattern on the brocade. He probably forgot which one was which and he didn't want her to know he bought an amulet for romance so he tried to hide it from her. But because he acted so hastily and didn't read the character, he just gave her one of them. So here she was, aware of what happened but confused why it happened. The amulet for education was meant for her so this one was for himself. In the years she had known him, the only girl he interacted with was her. It was her?

When she returned home, still feeling unsure about this development she saw a letter on her doormat. It was from Hitsugaya, asking her if she wants to meet him at the park tomorrow morning. She bit her lip, she had a hunch of what he wanted to talk about. What was she supposed to do? No matter what, it will be something she probably wasn't ready to hear. Hinamori didn't sleep well that night.

She found him leaning against a tree, he was clutching the amulet in his hand. Hinamori let out a deep breath and went to him. She put her hands in her coat pocket to keep them warm, touching the amulet he gave her. He stepped away from the tree when he heard her footsteps in the snow coming closer to him.

''Hey.''

''Good morning.''

They stood there, not sure what to do. She watched him looking to the side before finally talking to her. ''You saw it, right? That I gave you the wrong amulet.''

''Um, yeah.'' She took the amulet from her pocket. She gave him an unsure smile. ''We can trade it. You've brought the other one too so... .''

He shook his head and looked at her sternly. ''Momo, you've figured it out, right? Why I bought it. I didn't want to talk about this while we're still in grade school, but we can't ignore it either.''

''Please.'' She couldn't look at him in the eyes. ''We can just-''

''So let me say it.'' He paused for a moment. ''I like you. In a… in a romantic way.''

There it was, her fears became a reality. The person she only saw as a little brother, her precocious neighbor. She took his hands in hers, panic visible on her face. ''I like you too. I like you more than I like most people, but I—''

With a gentle smile he interrupted her. ''I will keep this amulet, I will catch up to you. Actually, the school said I can skip a grade if I want. You should keep the other one.''

He was going to keep the amulet which worked as a good luck charm for education and she could keep the romance charm to remind her of his feelings. ''But—''

''That's why, please don't give me answer now. Don't reject me now.'' He stepped away from her, their hands no longer holding each other. ''Until you take me seriously, until I've caught up to you, you shouldn't give me an answer.''

He was pleading her to give him a chance. She couldn't refuse him, not him. ''I understand.''

''Also, let's make a second promise. When I enroll middle school you should stop calling me Shiro-chan. I'll start calling you Hinamori too.''

He was planning to put some distance between them. She felt bad for giving him false hope, but she couldn't help but nod. After their winter break, they went to school separately, another favor Hitsugaya asked of her. In April, Hinamori started her middle school life and befriended Abarai and Kira and that was also when she got charmed by Aizen. Hitsugaya was allowed to skip one grade in grade school and another one in middle school, which let him and Hinamori both start high school at the same time. Finally, he caught up to her, but did it even matter anymore? In her last year of middle school, she got stabbed by her favorite teacher and due to trauma, she forgot what had happened. She forgot the bespectacled man she knew for three years and everything along with it. What if she forgot about Hitsugaya's confession too? After Hinamori stopped being a shut-in she never once mentioned it, so Hitsugaya assumed that she didn't remember.

He was right and he was wrong. Hinamori did indeed forget about his confession, but it wasn't just because of her trauma. She also wanted to forget. She couldn't bring herself to throw the amulet away, but instead hid the embroidered character with a cloth and then stashed the amulet away in an unused notebook. She would avoid talking to Hitsugaya and instead focus on Aizen. She would convince herself that the confession never happened. And then Aizen stabbed her and she forced herself to forget about that too.

 _''_ _That concludes the final part. Please remain in your seats until the lights are on. After the lights are on, you can safely exit the theater by using the doors on the right and the left.''_

Once again the theater turned dark when the projector turned off and they waited in silence for the lights to flicker on again. They were both contradictory people. She wanted to forget about his feelings, but kept the amulet so that one day she would remember and answer him. After her memory loss, he hoped she would forget about his confession, because he was actually afraid of her rejecting him. Still, he also wanted to hear her answer.

At last, all the lights were on and two of them could see each other again. Though, these short movies covered very little, it was everything what they wanted to know. The reason why Hinamori felt guilty when she was with Hitsugaya was because she owed him an answer. The reason why Hinamori never truly seemed like herself was because she really was just an empty shell. The real her escaped in her fantasies, because she was a coward.

''What now?'', he asked.

Now that she recovered her key memories, she could return back to herself. But did that really matter anymore? If she removed the sword from her body her blood could leave her much faster and then she was in danger of dying from blood loss. If she let the sword stay in her body she wouldn't be able to move around. Maybe she should just stay here and die a more pleasant death.

''We should get you out of this shared unconsciousness. I think there are some stairs behind us.'' That she wanted to stay here didn't mean he should too. Who knows? Maybe he's better at being a protagonist than her and could use the Deus ex Machina to get himself out of the crystal.

He glared at her. ''What do you mean 'you'? I'm not getting out of here alone.''

She glared back, something that rarely occurred. ''Even if I returned there's nothing I can do! You saw how futile my attacks were. If it were you, you could definitely do it. You've always been more capable than me in everything.''

''Stop running away!'' He grabbed her by her shoulders. ''Kira, Abarai, Ukitake and Hirako are still waiting for us! Both of us! Are you saying you honestly don't care about them? That they're only some characters in your story?''

''I don't know, but I want to believe!'' She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. ''I've always cared, but I don't know if it was genuine. Did I care because you were my friend or because I told myself that I should as a friend? Someone this wishy-washy, someone like me should just be left behind.''

'''Someone like me'? If we wanted to abandon you, we would have done so a long time ago. You've gotten a lot weirder ever since the accident, but we still wanted to be with you. Why? Because we like to have 'someone like you' with us.'' His grip on her loosened somewhat. ''Don't you think that you should take some responsibility here? Especially after subjecting us to your craziness for three years?''

It was weak, but that last bit managed to make her smile a bit. ''But how can I defeat the Soul King. My protagonist powers weren't enough.''

''No, they are more than enough. He said so himself, remember? That you were able to do more than you should have.'' Changing the genre and even altering the personality of those around her.

They walked down the stairs and then headed to the exit. Slowly, Hinamori opened the door and a blinding light seeped through the gap. She didn't have a plan as to how to defeat the Soul King and quite frankly that made her nervous.

''I said that you should take responsibility, but that doesn't you have to do everything by yourself. Rely on me too, okay?''

''Yeah.''

They both closed their eyes, preparing for the horrible situation they were in in the real world. However, instead feeling intense pain, she was still unharmed. Pastel-colored bubbles, bright sparkles and glitter were floating around them in this stark white area.

 _''_ _Thank you for visiting the Deus ex Machina Theater. You automatically will regain your consciousness when you close your eyes for five seconds. We hope to see you again.''_

''Oh, it turns out to be easier than I thought'', Hinamori said relieved.

Hitsugaya tried to swat the bubbles away from his face. ''Indeed. Let's get out of here.''

''Ah, wait!'' She held his hand without thinking. ''I still wanted to tell you something. Or more accurately, something I have to tell you.''

''Can't you tell me later? We've spent too much time here already.'' They stared at each for a few seconds. He gave up when she puffed her cheeks. ''Fine, what is it?''

''About your confession. You've waited six years for my reply, haven't you? Even if you don't feel the same anymore, I want to give it to you now.''

He intertwined their fingers together. ''That… hardly matters now. Besides, I already know your answer. We were distant when you were fawning over Aizen for three years and the next three years you only saw me as your childhood friend.''

She looked at him with determined eyes. ''I admired Aizen. I admired Aizen with all of my heart. Even if I wanted to, I can't deny it.''

The corner of his mouth nearly twitched. ''Yeah, I know—''

''But you, I've always adored.'' She cupped his cheek with her other hand. ''In the past, the present and even in the future, I adore you with everything I have.''

''T-that kind of thing… !'' She felt his cheek getting warmer. ''You realize what you're saying, don't you?''

''When you were ten-years-old and confessed to me, I would have rejected you, because up until that point you were like a little brother to me. But after that day, continuing that sibling-like relationship felt too strange.'' She smiled. ''I guess you didn't have to keep up with me since I already started to take you more seriously back then. To take my mind of you, I would start thinking about Aizen instead. After my memory loss, I forgot about your confession and about Aizen. But surprisingly, I would still feel this tension when I was with you.'' She glanced away for a moment and swallowed. ''I think that I've unknowingly had these feelings for you for a very long time.''

''I see… thank you for telling me.'' He placed his hands on hers and smiled ever so softly. She laughed, happy that she conveyed her feelings properly. ''Hinamori, I—''

He stopped when a warm magenta light enveloped their body. All the bubbles began to grow even bigger and popped, creating even more bubbles which again began to grow. The sparkles and the glitter were aggressively flying around them. They didn't know what was happening, but this strange light made them feel rather… powerful.

Hinamori focused back on Hitsugaya and tilted his head towards hers so that he would look at her. ''Let's close our eyes and get out of here. I'll hear your reply when all of this is said and done.''

He shrugged. ''You did make me wait for six years, so I guess it's only fair if I made you wait too.''

They closed their eyes, waiting for their return to reality.


	11. Chapter 11 The End

Chapter 11

Nobody said a word, not even the Soul King. The crystals reached their shoulders at this point. The one moment Hitsugaya was screaming and the next he was silenced. They were completely frozen in a pale mint colored crystal; she was smiling emptily and he was watching her in despair. It was as if they were forced to watch her getting pierced by the one person who cared so much for her.

Finally Kira broke the silence, ''This… this isn't real. This is just a nightmare. They must still be alive, right?''

''Hinamori-san, Hitsugaya-san, I'm sorry.'', Ukitake said in a whisper. ''If only I didn't say anything to her that day.''

Hirako heard the older man mumble and shook his head. ''I still can't quite understand what's going on but… .'' He stared at the complete crystal encasing the two students. ''Ultimately, I encouraged her to pursue this path, didn't I? What have I done?''

Abarai gritted his teeth. ''They were acting strange earlier, weren't they? When we were leaving the building, they already knew all about this. Why?! Why didn't they tell us?! We could have helped and then maybe they wouldn't be… in that situation.''

The Soul King who didn't say a word until now merely sighed at them. Those guys finally got their own little spotlight to say something and they chose say those depressing things? If this was a battle manga, the supporting cast would yell something like 'We believe in you! Don't give up!' to give the main character a boost in a critical time. The girl wasn't dead yet and so were her powers, if they gave her a pep talk then maybe she could be freed. She would still be horribly wounded, but freed. Or perhaps not even then. They weren't real friends. A pep talk wouldn't have awakened the Power of Friendship. The girl and the boy were doomed to begin with.

If The Soul King could grin he would, too bad he doesn't have a mouth. Or a nose. He can't blink his eyes either. But that was fine, when he absorbs her power he'll finally have cultivated enough Protagonist Particles in his body to break free from this crystal prison and ascend as an even greater being than a deity bound to the school grounds. He'll be able to expand his influence, get to curse more people and then repeat the process. He'll get a face, arms and legs sooner than the other deities and then… that empty throne in the sky will be his. From the heavens he'll rule over all of humanity and the lower deities. You could say that he had a god complex, but he was essentially already one so… his peers just called him delusional.

''Now then.'' he said maliciously. ''I think it's time to collect the harvest.''

Underneath his crystal black lines that resembled veins appeared on the ground and created a path to Hitsugaya's crystal. The veins circled around the crystal, forming something akin to a magic circle underneath it that matched the one underneath the Soul King's crystal. When the preparation was done it turned from black to white. The white magic circle grew larger and like a sticker peeled its edges from the ground and then stuck itself to the crystal. The Soul King laughed when it was the other crystal's turn.

''No… .'' Ukitake face was filled with anguish. This process, he heard about it from the Soul King himself. The Soul King would take all of his interpersonal relationships and in return his sickness should be almost non-existent. His family eventually forgot their own son and Kyouraku was never ever able to see him again after their graduation. It was only when Kyouraku passed away that his sickness fully returned. It was also when the Soul King said that he would harvest his powers using this method after he was done with the headmaster's soul. ''Hinamori-san! Hitsugaya-san!''

A chuckle rapidly transformed into maniacal laughter. ''I've been waiting for this! After all this time I—''

An explosion.

Puffs of dust clouds emerged when the magic circle tried to attach itself to the crystal. Everyone who was near it started to cough. The air started to prickle their eyes so much, tears began to well up. Slowly, they felt like they could breathe again as they lifted their heads to see what was going. The magic circle dissipated in small white sparkles, but nobody paid that any attention. They were instead mesmerized by the now iridescent crystal surrounded with large diamond shaped bubbles, falling rose petals and floating glitter.

Abarai yelled, ''L-look! The sword is… it is… !''

The Deus ex Machina was breaking apart. The little fragments of the blade cut the crystal from the inside, avoiding Hinamori and Hitsugaya. Her wound closed as if nothing ever happened just like the blood that leaked from her body vanished. The sword handle, however, stayed inside the crystal. Through the cracks a blinding light escaped, forcing everyone to squint their eyes. More cracks formed as the fragments continued their work cutting the crystal from all sides now. Another explosion was triggered when the crystal started to fall apart.

The Soul King was stunned. Nobody ever escaped from the magic circle before, let alone in a cheesy shoujo manner. Shoujo… manner? ''It can't be!''

The clouds faded away, revealing the two students standing next to each other. Just when they all thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous a beam of light from the sky bore its way through the ceiling and shone brightly upon them. Kira, Abarai, Ukitake, Hirako and even the Soul King couldn't comprehend what was happening there, only being able to see their silhouettes. The pillar of light eventually got thinner and thinner until they all could clearly see them.

Hinamori wore a white blouse with poofy short sleeves underneath a light pink corset dress with golden peach blossom embellishment. The skirt had multiple layers; the front layers being just above knee length and gradually getting longer at the back until it reached her ankles. On the back of her corset was a huge, black lace ribbon. Her hair now reached just below her shoulder instead of the usual chin length bob and a golden mini crown was placed on the left side of her head. She also wore white tights and black Mary Janes.

Hitsugaya wore a long sleeved light blue blouse with cufflinks resembling snowflakes underneath a white tailcoat vest with thin, vertical, light grey stripes and black buttons. His trousers had the same color and pattern as the vest with a golden chain hanging from one on his pockets and his shoes were black like Hinamori's. On the right side of his head was a golden mini crown.

The handle of the Deus ex Machina broke into two perfect halves, Hinamori and Hitsugaya each holding onto one. The fragments of the blades swirled around the handles and merged with it, creating two swords. They were both half the size of the original sword and which meant that the powers were equally divided in two too. This was because Hinamori wasn't strong enough to hold the real Deus ex Machina anymore, but only half of its strength. Hitsugaya on the other hand was now strong enough to carry half of the Deus ex Machina with ease, which was impressive. But why was that?

The Soul King was seething with anger. ''Hinamori Momo! You changed the genre again, didn't you!''

When she confessed her feelings to Hitsugaya, the girl unknowingly summoned every cliché from a shoujo manga that belonged in such an important scene. All the flowers, bubbles, pastel colored background and glitter were enough to change her story into a Shoujo with a bit of a Magical Girl flair.

She looked at Hitsugaya, ''I guess I did.''

In almost all shoujo manga the girl is the main character, but she isn't alone; the love interest too is a main character. Hinamori changed her story and Hitsugaya's status as a character. She couldn't be the only protagonist anymore, she was forced to share her powers with him.

''Hinamori.'' He glanced at their friends and teachers who were still stuck in their crystals.

''I know.'' With her powers halved, she couldn't alter her story the same way she did before. There was no other choice but to work together with Hitsugaya. ''I'm counting on you.''

Their eyes met. ''Likewise.''

''HINAMORI MOMO! HITSUGAYA TOUSHIRO!'' The Soul King's voice boomed throughout the whole room. ''HOW DARE YOU TOY WITH WHAT'S MINE!''

Her powers weren't the same anymore, but that didn't mean she was weak. She was overpowered from the start after all. Even now, her capabilities as a protagonist were more exceptional in comparison to the Soul King's former victims. Hinamori took a deep breath and held the sword with both of her hands. ''Remember, Hitsugaya-kun. Be as showy as possible.''

He sighed. Weren't they showy enough with these conspicuous outfits? ''It's not as if I actually have choice.''

And then she ran with Hitsugaya following suit. They didn't know how much they could do just yet so they carefully maintained some distance from the Soul King. Behind them, however, large spikes began to form from the walls and immediately targeted the two. Hitsugaya spotted the spikes, spun his sword, raised it and then stabbed the floor as he dropped to one knee. Ice conjured from the tip of the sword, quickly transforming into a thick glass-like dome. The spikes managed to make small dents into the wall.

He felt a bit embarrassed, telling himself to get over it. The key was abusing the Magical Girl genre which required many flashy moves. Hinamori tried to stifle her giggle with minimal success. He glared at her to which she responded with a thumbs up, gesturing he did a great job.

The spikes continued to assault the dome, creating more and more dents and cracks. Hinamori took a few steps back. They gave each other a nod as the ice broke apart. The Soul King took this chance to launch his newly made spikes to attack them with his focus primarily on the girl. Hinamori ran from the broken dome while twirling around as she sliced with her sword at the air around her multiple times and then lowered her sword enough to scratch the floor when she ran normally again. The air slashes cleanly cut the still attacking spikes in pieces, but the pieces were still too large for her to avoid. That's where Hitsugaya jumped above her and sliced them into pieces with the size of tennis balls. The long scratched line Hinamori made with her sword got warmer and glowed a fiery red. She swung her sword like it was a golf club when Hitsugaya landed, soon the red line levitated from the floor and divided itself into scorching bullets to get rid of the falling pieces. Hinamori helped Hitsugaya stand up with an apologetic smile.

''You're doing great! It seems we don't have to play it too safe after all.''

He eyed her with suspicion, ''But?''

She looked at the unstable walls, there were large holes from where the spikes came from. If they didn't hurry, this whole place could collapse. ''I think we need to do 'that' for our attack to leave a large impact.''

With his sword raised skywards, ice shot from the length of the sword and created another dome to protect them from any upcoming attacks while he was talking with her. ''What do you mean?''

The Soul King watched the dome with scrutinizing eyes. They proved they could handle the spikes without too much effort. Even so, they only just learned how to use their powers. There must be some weakness to his dome. Ah, there it was. They were talented, but still prone to making mistakes.

''What do you think?'', Hinamori asked after she finished her explanation. ''In a way, we're living out our childhood fantasies.''

''…I've never fantasized about that!'', Hitsugaya said with apparent annoyance. ''Whatever, we should at least give it a try.''

''Right, then we— Eek!'' She stumbled when the ground beneath her feat started to tremble and fall apart ''W-whaaat-!

''Hinamori!'' The hole she fell into closed up in an instant.

''Don't worry, I need her to be semi-alive when I absorb her powers. That's also why I can crush her as long as her heart beats without a worry.''

''I see.'' Hitsugaya faced the Soul King with an impassive expression, broke the ice dome with his sword and stepped outside of it. ''That also makes it easier for me.''

''What?''

''Suggesting things like yelling the names of our attacks… how stupid.'' He straightened his back. ''I wonder if she enjoys watching me peeved. Well, I don't have to think about that now.''

''What?''

''Sit upon the frozen heavens.'' The air around Hitsugaya grew colder, puffs of clouds circled around him when he relaxed. Ice formed on the handle slowly encasing the whole blade in it. It was impossible, but snow began to fall from the hole the light pillar from earlier made.

''What?''

''HYOURINMARU!''

As soon as he yelled that, everything in his vicinity was frozen in ice. Well, he still had control over it so the others in crystal didn't get frozen. The ice on his sword transformed into a large dragon looming dangerously over the Soul King.

''WHAT?''

The magic circle protected the Soul King from the ice dragon when it tried to take a bite out of the crystal. The dragon didn't give up and relentlessly attacked the crystal again and again. Eventually its head exploded when the Soul King powered the magic circle. Meanwhile, Hitsugaya created another dragon to attack the Soul King with. The deity responded with creating a second magic circle on the ceiling. The circle moved just above Hitsugaya's position as long projectile weapons in the middle of the circle prepared to shoot him. The boy immediately sprinted away from it while busying himself with a third dragon. This one he didn't send to attack the Soul King, instead he jumped on it and ordered it to keep dodging the magic circle. From midair he would repair the head of the first dragon and then control the two attacking dragons fully while the third dragon would keep him safe.

If Hinamori heard him before, she would undoubtedly use it to tease him. Anyway, he trusted that she could handle herself. For now he must wait for her to get back.

They kept at it for a while and soon the whole place was filled with magic circles and ice dragons damaging the walls, ceiling and floor without a thought. Ukitake and the others would be in awe if it weren't for the fact the crystal already reached their mouths.

''Foolish boy! It doesn't matter how many creatures you conjure! All I have to do is making more magic circles!''

''I know.''Hitsugaya looked from the Soul King to the center of the floor and his lips curved into a faint smile. ''You should be ready too, right?''

''Ready?'', the Soul King asked.

An echo could be heard from the gaps on the ground, ''Snap!''

''That voice, it can't be!''

''TOMBIUME!''

The center where Hitsugaya just looked at changed into a familiar red color. Roots made of fire crawled their way up, causing steam as it heated the frozen floor. The ice dragons made their way up as the floor was now completely filled with the roots; in the middle of it all, the roots started to spiral upwards until it became a humungous plum tree with balls of fire as its fruit. Sitting on top of the tree was Hinamori, searching for Hitsugaya and her other friends who were starting to sweat because of the humid air. Fortunately, the roots didn't come too close to them just like the ice dragons. Speaking of the ice dragons, they were now flying above the roots, combining with each other to make one giant ice dragon with Hitsugaya standing on top of its head. The snow continued to fall heavily, melting as it made contact with the roots and then turning into steam as it evaporated. Hitsugaya rode the ice dragon to Hinamori with a relieved sigh as she waved at him with a bright smile.

This time they'll finish it.

The Soul King was taken aback by this all. How was she unharmed after practically burying her alive? Well, Hinamori cloaked herself in something she liked to call Plot Armor. Everything that tried to touch her disintegrated so she couldn't be crushed to death, but that also meant she kept falling deeper and deeper into the ground. Eventually she constantly shot explosive fire balls downward to propel herself upward and that took a while so Hitsugaya needed to buy her some time.

Their reunion could wait however as the Soul King hastily made new spikes from every angle and magic circles shooting out arrows. Hinamori tapped her sword on the tree, shaking the thousands of fire plums. Hitsugaya used his sword as a conductor stick to control the ice and conjured more ice along with it, he swirled all of it around the ice dragon to serve as protection. When the fire plums were ripe enough, Hinamori gave Hitsugaya a nod, signaling that she was ready. She made sure her legs were straight and spun around, doing several pirouettes. The fire balls broke off from the branches, flying in the air as they followed her rapid movements. The tornado of fire turned every spike and arrow near it into ashes.

As the tornado was doing its work, Hinamori stopped spinning and jumped with a somersault from the tree while using her sword to summon one of the massive roots to land on. She slid down the spiral root towards to Soul King. The spikes and arrows were still ongoing but so were the fire balls. Hitsugaya followed after Hinamori with thick, grey clouds floating above them. Since Hinamori got further and further from the base of the tree, the safest place for her to be, she was pretty much full of openings at the moment. Hitsugaya didn't have to worry about himself since the ice and snow could easily handle anything the Soul King attacked him with. Which is why he used the clouds to protect Hinamori, anything that tried to go near her turned into pillar of ice.

''Hitsugaya-kun.'' She switched the sword from her right hand to her left. The two swords were now almost touching.

''Right.'' He put the hilt of his sword right next hers as they intertwined their fingers.

Steam escaped from the swords because of the close proximity. Together, the protagonists leaped of the ice dragon and fire root, charging towards the Soul King. The Soul King expanded his magic circle in a desperate effort to stop them, but alas the swords managed to cut the barrier with ease.

''No! This can't be happening!''

The sword hit the crystal, this time they didn't got blown away from the energy blast. Every rubble and debris in their vicinity were thrown into the air like it was nothing.

''We won't let you do as you please anymore!''

With a thrust, they sliced the crystal in half. The Soul King never got the time to yell out in agony, before he knew it everything was dark. The crystals broke in smaller particles, floating away to the hole in the ceiling. The same happened to the other crystals that held their friends and teachers captive. Soon, there where used the be the Soul King was all but nothingness. Hinamori and Hitsugaya breathed in and out, feeling accomplished. It was then when Hinamori realized the consequences of their actions that she dropped her sword and sped towards to the others.

They had pained expressions on their faces as they looked at the pile of dust next to them. Ukitake had a gentle smile on his face when he said his goodbye. The man got thinner and paler, but he still looked happy. He was finally able to meet his best friend in the afterlife. They were all silent as the dust got blown away by the wind. Still, there was no time to mourn. The whole room was in a state of collapse. They needed to get out of here. Hitsugaya used his ice dragon to bring them all to the surface, the higher they got the more the dragon started to melt. When they got off, the dragon was gone and so was Hinamori's giant plum tree. In a flash of light the clothes of the two students returned to their school uniform.

''You guys.'' Hirako stared at the remains of the school building. ''You have got some explaining to do, but… for now, just go home and get some rest.''

''But that's not… .'' Kira rubbed his eyes. It was dark outside and he was tired. ''Hinamori-kun, Hitsugaya-kun… did you two know about Ukitake-sensei?''

They were all focused on them. Hinamori shook her head. ''Just me.''

''Why didn't you with confide us?'' He sounded drained of energy. ''Don't you trust us?'''

''She… she probably has her reasons.'' Abarai spoke before she could. ''I also want to know, but look at them. Look at us, we're all tired.''

They all nodded. This was enough for one day. They walked away from the empty school grounds.

''Everything you want to know, from now on I'll tell you everything'', Hinamori said. ''Also… .''

They all looked at her.

''Thanks for sticking with me for all these years.'' She slowly raised her head to meet their eyes, clasped her hands behind her back and gave them a genuinely warm smile. ''I really like you all a lot.''

The boys blushed in silence, but Hirako responded with a deadpan face. Somehow it lifted the gloomy mood, not by much but it was good enough.

They needed to change locations since the their school was under construction. A new headmaster was appointed too. People were told that Ukitake quit his job, because of health reasons. Kiyone was heartbroken, her friends and Kotetsu tried to console her the best they could.

In the next couple of weeks Kuchiki Rukia transferred to Kiyone's class where they hit it off almost immediately. Abarai was ecstatic, he finally got to see his best friend on a daily basis. Kira's poem impressed the readers so much that the school papers club convinced him to be a club member so that he could write a weekly poem. Hirako never asked any of them any questions, it wasn't his business he said.

Hinamori twirled her hair as she stared outside the window. Her hair never turned back to short after the transformation. She didn't mind it though, it was fun being able to braid her hair. Lately she didn't get attacked by tiny animals, crash into someone, or burned her food or, well, you know. Her friends didn't say it out loud, but they were happy her loony side pretty much diminished. She could go to university with confidence now. Yup, everything was going all right.

When classes were over, Hinamori said goodbye to her friends and went on her way. He wanted to meet with her at that park and she complied. There he stood, next to the same old tree. Just like that day years ago, the air was cold and the scenery mostly white with the snow falling from the sky. She waved at him.

''Hey.''

''Took you long enough.''

''Hey!''

He shrugged in indifference at the pouting girl. He gestured at the bench next to tree and they both sat down.

''Me too.''

She glanced at him puzzled. ''What?''

He didn't look at her. ''It took me long enough too.''

''Eh, no way. You were too early if you ask me.''

''I agree.'' At long last he looked at her. ''I wonder what would have happened if my ten year old self was more patient.''

Actually, she was talking about him arriving here too early. Did his classes end sooner? Anyway, she should answer him and thus she gave it some serious thought. ''It shocked me. We were friends for four years back then and I never noticed anything. Why… why did you like me?''

''When Grandma and I moved to this town, the only one who welcomed me was you.'' The other townspeople liked his grandmother, but they were unsure about the 6 year old Hitsugaya. The quiet boy always wore a frown and never really tried to be liked either. ''I was always rude to you, but you never gave up on me. You always visited us, you always talked to me, you always tried to play with me, you… you became someone important to me.''

She cracked a smile. He honestly was rude to her, always saying that she was a pain to him and mocking her. She understood though, that showing affection wasn't easy for him. He only ever showed his smile to his grandmother. ''Well, I sort of thought that side of you was cute so it didn't bother me.''

''Cute, huh.'' He suddenly sounded doubtful. ''Are you sure you're not still thinking of me as a child? As your little brother?''

Warm hands cupped his cheeks and he was met with a fond smile. One hand moved to his brush his bangs to the side. She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his forehead and then one on his cheek. Her warm expression turned completely earnest when she pulled away. ''Where this will go, it's all up to you. I already gave you an answer.''

He was stunned by her boldness. He cast his eyes downwards, let out a sigh and then looked at her with determination. He placed his hands on her shoulders and moved closer. Their lips touched briefly, but that was enough. They stared at each other and laughed, something they haven't done with each other in a long time. She held out her hand which he took and they left the bench, heading home.

The End.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **First, I want to apologize. This story was complete from the start, just sitting on my laptop, but because of laziness and school I didn't post the last chapter earlier. Also, I'm sorry if this last chapter was bad. I know I'm not a good writer, but that's all right.**

 **Second, I want to thank you. I'm happy you took the time to read this silly story, even if you didn't like it.**

 **And lastly, this will most likely be my last fanfiction. I've only written 3 stories, but that was good enough. Bleach has been done for a few years and the passion I had for this series also became less and less. However, Bleach will always have special place in my heart. I may go back here as just a reader though.**

 **Once again, thank you for reading, reviewing or favoriting this story! Have a nice day and goodbye :)**


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